Naruto: Guardians
by TheCrackedoutFirebird
Summary: Eons ago, a race exsisted that became the Guardians of the Metaverse. Now, heros from four different worlds must come together to defeat an evil bent on destroying all they hold dear. HaloxNarutoxRobotechxnBSG Xover. Rated M. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1: Begining Of Memories

Chapter 1 Beginning of Memories

Admiral Rick Hunter gripped his arm rests as he watched the center of the black hole grow on his display as his ship was pulled further and further into the gravity well. He could feel the sweat run down his back as cold fear gripped his gut. He'd just signed the death warrant on his crews' lives. Everyone onboard the SDF-3 Pioneer was now dead, and it was his fault. Why hadn't he listened to Lisa and moved his ship further away from the target zone? Because he was cocky and sure that they were in no danger. But how the hell was he supposed to know that the Neutron-S war head would create a black hole? He changed his train of thought. Guilt was not a luxury he had at this moment. He still had to try every conceivable option.

"Alright." He said as he rose from his chair. "Anyone have any idea as to how we can get out of here?"

He looked around the room and saw only hopeless faces as his crew were coming to grips with the fact that they were doomed.

"_Damn it." _Rick thought bitterly. _"There has to be something I've over looked. Some fold in the pl-Wait! That's it!"_

Hunter looked down to his helmsman, a young female Lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, prepare to fold." He ordered.

The girl blinked in surprise before Admiral Edwards spoke up.

"Hunter! We can't fold out of a black hole! It's impossible! No one has every done it!"

Rick shot him a glare.

"Well, have you got any bright ideas?"

Edwards remained quiet as he simply returned Rick's glare. The former pilot smirked as he took the silence as a sign of his opponents defeat.

"Very well. Besides. What's the worst that could happen?"

"We blow up." A voice sounded from behind him.

Rick knew who it was and simply nodded his head.

"That's true ma'am, but at least it'd be quick and painless compared to doing nothing, and getting ripped to shreds inside of a black hole."

Fleet Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter could only shake her head at Rick's logic, even though it did make sense. Instead of answering him, she turned to the young helmsman.

"You heard the order Lieutenant. Fold us out of here."

"Aye aye, ma'am." She answered with a shaky voice.

The woman tapped the controls with a shaky hand and began inputting the coordinates when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Glancing up, she saw the smiling face of Admiral Hunter.

"Hey. Relax, You can do this. I wouldn't trust you steering the ship if I didn't have faith in you."

The woman nodded and faced her controls with determination as she steadied her hand and finished her computations.

"Fold system ready Admiral Hunter."

Rick smiled as he moved back to his seat.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Lets get out of here."

Around the SDF-3, space began to wavier as the fold systems began to manipulate the fabric of space, struggling to break the hold the black hole had on the vessel. But black holes were stubborn and refused to release their prey with out a fight. The SDF-3 began to shake violently and the lights began to flicker as energy surged through her systems. Consoles began over loading, spewing sparks and arcs of electricity across short distances.

"Report!" Rick ordered.

"Fold system is overloading! The Fold Targeting System is non responsive. FTL drive is showing high feedback into the core! Reaching dangerous levels!"

"Main thrust systems off line! We're losing attitude control!"

"We lost our holding station! I show two minutes until we're completely pulled in!"

"Fold energy is cascading through out the relays! Core breach imminent!"

Rick was lost in a sea of confusion as the reports hit him at once. Panic gripped the crew as he made a very dangerous decision.

"Dump all the excess energy into the fold system. Standby to initiate fold!" He bellowed over the alarms ringing around him.

The bridge crew paused to see if he had perhaps grown a second head. But the look that Lisa gave them made them all gulp in fear.

"You heard him! Get a move on!"

"Yes ma'am!" They chorused and turned back to their stations.

"System ready, sir." The helmsman stated calmly.

Rick rose from his seat as he watched the core of the black hole close in on them.

"Standby."

He felt a hand on his and glanced back to see Lisa giving him that same determined look she always had when things were life or death. She gave him a nod that gave him the confidence to give the order.

"Initiate fold…NOW!"

Xxxxx

Darkness gave way to flickering emergency lights as Rick came too. He grunted in pain and placed a hand over his ribs, figuring they were either broken or bruised. Neither any better than the other. Hunter gripped his command chair and roughly pulled himself to his feet, wincing in pain. Beside him, Lisa was all ready being tended to.

"Let's get some lights on in here." He ordered in a calm voice.

The bridge crew slowly began to get back into the swing of things and with in a few minutes, the regular lighting was restored. In that time, Rick was checked over and was happy to find out that he had no breaks. Only bruised ribs, like he thought. However, Lisa had suffered a broken arm. Most of his bridge crew were fine with the most severe injury being Lisa's. Everyone else had a few minor lacerations and some bruises, but were alright.

"Give me a damage report."

"Hull damage is extensive Admiral. The port side or the bow has exposed superstructure. Also, our fold system is inoperable at this time pending full repairs. Bulkheads 189 to 197 have ruptured and is reading as breached." A young Commander responded.

Rick sighed and rubbed his temple.

"Where do we stand with engines?"

"Engine two is a flame out. Three and one aren't far behind. We have zero attitude control, sir." The helmsman reported.

"Alright. Let's find some where to set down and make repairs."

"Looks like were going to be making a landing sooner than expected Admiral. We're descending onto a habitable planet." She reported.

"Well, good job Miss Cramer. Job well done on locating a planet. Have you found us a landing zone?" Rick asked pleasantly.

The young girl snapped her eyes back to the display and checked their descent trajectory and spotted an area just large enough for them to set down.

"Yes sir. Firing thrusters to align for correct reentry profile. Estimate touchdown in ten minutes."

Rick smiled.

"Very good." He responded, activating the ship wide intercom. "Attention all personnel. Attention all personnel. This is Admiral Rick Hunter. All stations are to prepare for emergency landing. Repeat, prepare for emergency landing. Once we have touched down, I want a full sitrep from all stations. That is all."

Rick leaned back in his seat and caught the sight of Lisa still on the bridge, arm in a sling.

"You should be in the infirmary."

Lisa raised an eyebrow.

"And leave you in charge of my ship? No way." She retorted.

Rick smirked.

"According to REF command regulation 1020.34 Alpha, in the event of injury, the commanding officer is relieved of command until a medical professional is able to determine any and all effects said injury will have on the commanders abilities."

Lisa glared at him.

"Vice Admiral Hunter. I don't need you quoting regulations to me. _Especially_ ones I wrote." She retorted.

Rick grinned.

"Well, _Fleet_ Admiral Hunter. It seemed you needed a refresher and after all, a good leader must also be able to follow her own regulations, otherwise, your subordinates might feel free to disregard orders they don't like."

Lisa wanted to argue back, but knew he had a point. She conceded defeat but sent him one last glare.

"Don't think you've won. I have other ways to make you pay for this one."

Rick watched her leave and cursed his own loud mouth.

"I can never win. Even when the rules are on my side!"

His bridge crew couldn't help but snicker at his misfortune.

xxxxx

Lisa Hayes-Hunter waited patiently for the doctor to finish up on her arm. With the miracle of modern medicine, the doctor was able to set and mend her arm in fifteen minutes. Now, she just had to wait for the go ahead for her to leave the infirmary. She glanced at the clock again and marveled at the fact that they had touched down less than thirty minutes ago. And the damage that had followed. As if right on cue, the target of her frustrations strutted into the med bay, grinning like he just won the lottery.

"Well, we down. I have personnel doing a check of the ship." He said as he walked over to her.

Lisa rose from her bed and glared at him, hands on her hips making Rick freeze in his tracks.

"Yes. And you've caused damage to _my_ flagship. And, you saw fit to remove me from _my_ bridge. I think your going to become very familiar with the couch."

"Aw…but Lisa…come on! It was for your own good. Besides," He continued with a grin as he stepped aside, "She would've hated me if I hadn't gotten you to the doctors. Isn't that right kiddo?"

Lisa's expression softened as her and Rick's seven year old daughter, Claudia Lynn Hunter rushed forward to hug her mother. Lisa hugged her daughter as the little girl giggled at her parents antics.

"Mommy, why were you yelling at daddy?"

Rick grinned. She wouldn't bash him in front of their own daughter.

"Because daddy is an idiot."

Or maybe not. Lisa looked up at him and gave him a hard look.

"Rick. We still have to talk about that stunt you pulled on the bridge. But we'll talk later. Now, I need to see the damage reports."

"Not so fast." Doctor Lang said as he came out of his office. "I may have fixed your arm, but it'll be at least two days before I'll release you to full duty. Until then, your to stay off the bridge."

Lisa raised both hands in defeat.

"Fine. Besides, I'll get to spend time with my child."

Rick gave her a questioning look.

"What about me?"

She gave him a warm smile.

"I was talking about you. Now, don't you have something to do? Like get repairs underway?"

Rick's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah! Gotta go. Be good for mommy, k?" He said as he kneeled in front of his daughter.

She smiled brightly, her green eyes shining in the med bay lights, her dark brown hair framing her face.

"Of course daddy. I'm always a good girl."

Rick chuckled as he stood back up and walked over to Lisa.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Love you." He said as he leaned in.

Lisa smiled and moved forward in a short, sweat kiss.

"Love you too. Now go fix my ship." She ordered.

Rick came to attention and snapped off a crisp salute.

"Aye aye, Admiral Hunter!" He said as he cut the salute and moved out of the med bay.

Claudia looked from the door to her mother with curiosity.

"Does daddy always listen to you?"

Lisa smirked.

"Only when he knows what's good for him."

Xxxxx

"Skull squadron, you are cleared for take off. Vermilion, Red, Blue, and Gold squadron, stand by to begin CAP mission." Commander Williams voice sounded through Colonel Sterling's head set.

"Rodger. Skull Squadron heading out." He said as he shoved the throttle forward, feeling the vibrations as his fighter's engines kicked to life.

The dozen fighters lifted off, one after the other until Red Squadron began to take off.

"Alright Skull, we're on perimeter defense. Stay sharp."

His wingman acknowledged the order as Max began the first route of his patrol. This would be a long day.

Xxxxx

Rick clenched his hair as he looked over the reports. They lost half of their vertical thrusters and the hull was severely weakened to the point that any take off would probably destroy the ship until sufficient repairs could be made. The time estimate really made him hate his life. Four years to get the SDF-3 ready for space flight again.

"Lisa is gonna kill me." He muttered.

"Maybe. How bad is it?"

Rick looked up to see said woman leaning against the door. Rick sighed and leaned back.

"Engineer Olsen is estimating four years until we can even leave."

Lisa sighed before she gave him a small smile.

"I'm not mad. If you hadn't of ordered the fold, we'd all be dead. Your quick thinking saved us all."

"Only to strand us on this unknown planet in an unknown area of the galaxy." He mumbled.

Lisa walked behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Leave the reports to Edwards. Come to bed. I miss you." She whispered into his ear.

Rick sighed and simply enjoyed the warm weight pressing against his back.

"Alright. You win Lisa. I'll-" His sentence was never finished.

"Admiral Hunter to the bridge!"

Rick snapped his eyes open and he and Lisa moved quickly. With in moments, they were both on the bridge as Edwards turned to face them, a grim look on his face.

"Report." Rick ordered.

"Red Squadron reports contact with locals. They appear to be human and are demanding to speak with our leader. The call themselves ninja. They belong to a village not far from here. Something about leaves."

Rick looked at the pad Edwards handed him and sighed.

"Very well. Bring them aboard. We'll meet them on the flight deck."

Xxxxx

Rick stood on the flight deck as the transport vehicle landed and disgorged it's occupants. Four men with strange clothes stepped off the transport and walked in the direction an LSO pointed. Rick noticed that each of them had on a dark brown vest with many pockets and each had on the same head band. A swirl in the shape of a leaf. What was apparently the leader stepped forward. A man with dark hair, brown eyes, and a goat tee.

"Asuma Sarutobi. Hidden Leaf Village Jounin." He said, extending his hand.

"Vice Admiral Rick Hunter. Robotech Expeditionary Force. Executive officer of the SDF-3 Pioneer." Rick grasped the man's hand briefly.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, would you mind explaining why you have appeared so close to our village?" the man named Asuma question.

"It's along story, but to put your mind at ease, we're not here to cause trouble. Once we have completed repairs, we will be heading out."

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke, watching the rings dissipate.

"Well, our leader, Sandaime Hokage requests your presence so as to ascertain your motives on our land."

Rick glanced back to Lisa and Edwards, both gave a grim nod. The Admiral turned back to the strange man.

"Very well. We will meet with your leader."


	2. Chapter 2: Pilot's Plight

Chapter 2 Pilot's plight

Admiral Hunter sat in his office and waited while the man, Asuma, tried to figure out the best way to start. The man rubbed his chin before he sighed and shrugged.

"I guess I should just start from the beginning. Lets see…I guess the ninja arts start with the Sage of Six Paths. He was one of the first to be able to use chakra and he possessed the Rinnegan, a very powerful and very rare dojutsu that allows the weilder to use all six forms of chakra. The six forms are earth, fire, wind, lightening, water, and unique."

Rick nodded for Asuma to continue, which the man did.

"The first five are the elements and the names of the five great nations. The unique chakra is from those able to combine two of the elemental chakras and create a completely unique one, but, only thise with a genetic predisposition can even do this. I can't, for instance, add water and wind and get ice. Now, as for what chakra is, as I can see by your expression, well...it's really simple. Here, I'll draw it out and explain."

Rick watched as he drew a rather simplistic diagram that showed how chakra was created inside their own bodies. Asuma looked over it before nodding, satisfied, and continued his explanation.

"Chakra is the basic energy source necessary for shinobi to perform most jutsu. We produce chakra though combining our two energies. Physical energy is drawn from our body's cells where the mental energy is gained through experience and training the body."

Next, be drew a rough human out line and began placing dots on it in certain areas and connecting each of them by a set of lines that seemed to wrap around where the major organs would be.

"Once created, chakra moves through our chakra system and is delivered to one of 361 chakra release points. By performing certain combinations of hand seals, chakra is then manipulated for jutsu use. Any questions so far?"

Asuma waited as Admiral Hunter quietly digested the information. After a couple minutes, he had his question.

"Can you give a small demonstration?"

Asuma nodded and brought his hands together in the form of a single seal.

"Henge!" He called out as he vanished in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear moments later making Rick's eyes widen in shock.

Asuma/Rick grinned he fished a cigarette out of one of his pockets as he dispelled the illusion.

"That was the transformation technique. A basic move that allows the user to take the form of another." He said as he attempted to light his cigarette.

"Attention. Smoking is not permitted outside designated areas. Failure to comply will result in security personnel being summoned." A cool female voice sounded out.

Asuma looked around as he grudgingly put his cigarette away. Rick smirked as he rose from his seat and motioned for Asuma to follow him.

"Alright. So you said your leader wants to speak with me, correct?" Rick asked.

Asuma nodded as he continued to look around.

"Would he be willing to help supply us with some needed materials?"

Asuma glanced over to him.

"Depends on what it is you need."

"Just enough metals to repair our hull and other minor supplies to repair our engines. Nothing more." Rick told him.

"And in return?"

"Medical technology and some computer tech as well."

Asuma shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I don't know if he'll agree to it, but there isn't any harm in asking. We can head out when your ready."

Xxxxx

Rick, Max and three Marines sat in comfortable silence as the pilot flew them to the village with the Jounin Squad nervously looking out the window, as if expecting to see the ground suddenly racing up to meet them. The eight occupants watched out the window as the village came into view showing massive walls and a sprawling city inside it's walls.

"_Touching down in one minute. Standby."_

Rick glanced over to see the Marines readying their weapons. Even though Rick didn't expect any trouble, it never hurt to be prepared. He pushed those thoughts aside as he felt the retrorockets firing, alerting the occupants that the shuttle was touching down. The odd group of people disembarked and made their way toward the village. It only took them moments to reach the walls seeing as to how they had landed on the edge of the clearing. Rick and his group watched as Asuma stepped over to the guards and began talking with them. They waited while the three spoke with them glancing at them several times.

"What do you think, Max?"

The blue haired Colonel looked over at his long time friend and former Squadron Commander.

"I'd say that their just as curious about us as we are of them. If anything, their very tense about our sudden appearance admiral."

Rick nodded in agreement as Asuma made his way back to them, stopping just in front of them.

"Alright. If your all set, we'll take you to Sandaime."

Rick nodded his understanding.

"Lead the way."

The group made their way through the village with people stopping and staring at them in curiosity as they passed. They ignored the stares and continued on until they caught sight of a group of people running over to the net street. Rick raised an eyebrow at Asuma.

"What was that?"

But seeing Asuma's expression made Rick realize that this wasn't exactly normal.

"I don't know, but we need to find out."

They all followed Asuma as he ran after the crowd. They eventually caught up and could hear their shouts.

"Kill the demon!"

Rick saw Asuma start to become angry as a break in the crowd appeared. What Rick saw made him just as pissed. A single pistol shot caused the crowd to freeze and look behind them.

"What in the hell are you doing to that poor boy?" Rick demanded as his men moved forward to protect the boy.

Max was bent down and checking the boy over when he saw and removed the knife.

"Admiral! He's been stabbed and is losing blood, fast!"

"Colonel, take the Marines and get the boy back to the ship." Rick ordered.

The four nodded and headed back to the ship as the crowd turned to face Rick angrily.

"Why did you stop us? Now the little demon spawn will survive!" One of the men, a civilian by the looks of him demanded.

Around him, the crowd demanded an explanation. Rick stepped forward and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt.

"I don't care what you say, or what that boy did wrong, but beating and damn near killing a child is unforgivable. If I could, I'd kill everyone of you!" Rick said heatedly as he shoved the man on his ass.

Rick turned around and began walking forward when one of them charged after him, fist drawn for a punch. Rick spun and grabbed his wrist with his right hand. Lowering his body and moving his left foot foreword, Rick yanked the man's left arm while using his own left arm to lift the man up and over his head, throwing him into the street. Another stepped forward, wielding a club, but wasn't very proficient with it. The Admiral may have been in his early Thirties, but he was no push over. He sidestepped to the right as the man swung and chopped him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. Another man, weilding a katana charged forward. Rick saw the blade and drew his pistol. In one fluid motion, he chambered and fired a round right into the man's right knee, bringing him to the ground, writhing in pain. Just as he was preparing to defend himself from another wave of impaired civilians, an old man in billowing robes appeared with such anger that even Rick was taken aback by his appearance. Behind him stood several masked men, all wielding swords strapped to their backs.

"All of you will stand down or you will be dealt with severely." The old man ordered.

The civilians grumbled about the injustice of not being able to teach the outsider a lesson and moved away leaving two very angry people. Rick rounded on the oldman who was looking over at the younger man.

"I assume you're the one who is in charge of that…thing that landed not to far from here. I am the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. And you are…?"

Rick glared at the man.

"Vice Admiral Rick Hunter. And right now, I think you should explain what the hell is wrong with this village and why you allow them to get away with beating a small boy."

Sarutobi's eyes hardened slightly.

"If you want the answers, come to my office. But, first, I would appreciate it if you returned the boy to my care."

Rick glared openly at the man.

"No. Not until I am sure he will not be beaten or harmed in any form. Now, I suggest you start explaining yourself."

Sarutobi returned the man's glare.

"My office. Now."

Rick followed the older man. Despite the lack of anyone visible, Rick could sense several others following them.

"_This is going to be a long day."_ Rick thought hotly.


	3. Chapter 3: Remedial Action

Chapter 3 Remedial Action

Rick followed Sarutobi through the village toward the center where a elaborate tower stood. Both men entered the building in silence. The secretary did a double take as Rick entered the office after the older man with both of them very angry. Sandaime moved to his broken in leather chair as Rick stood in front of his desk. Neither said anything to the other as the tension in the air was almost palpable . Just as Sandaime was about to say anything, Rick beat him to the punch.

"I want to know why you have a young boy being beaten in the streets? A better question is where is his guardian and why are they allowing this to happen to him? Surely some one has reported this?"

Sandaime gave him a very cross look.

"For one, you have no right to be making any demands of me. Second, I believe you should identify yourself and your reasons for being here." Sandaime shot back.

"I already told you my name, oldman. Vice Admiral Rick Hunter. Robotech Expeditionary Force. Executive officer of the SDF-3 Pioneer. That's all your getting until I have my answers."

Rick crossed his arms and simply glared at the man. Sandaime gave a great sigh and started shuffling around his desk for something before pulling out a pipe.

"I suppose I should tell you, seeing as to how much you've already heard." He stated as he began packing tobacco into his pipe. "The boy's name is Naruto Uzumaki. He is six years old and an orphan. Both parents were killed on his day of birth by a demon we call the Nine Tailed Fox, a demon of incredible power. Able to level mountains or create tsunamis with a flick of it's tail." He explained as he lit his pipe.

The old man took a draw before allowing the smoke to flow out his mouth, creating a hazy look around his face.

"The boy was placed in the care of the orphanage, but he was kicked out recently after I repealed my decree."

"What decree?" Rick asked.

"The decree concerning him being a host. He has that beast sealed into him since birth."

The Hokage watched the man for any sign of disbelief, and upon seeing none, he continued.

"It was against my better judgment and it has only caused more harm than good. Currently, he has no home and no one is willing to take care of him."

Rick felt himself become enraged at these people and by the look of Sarutobi's face, Rick was showing it.

"You mean you people use children as some sort of living sacrifice?! And on top of that, this child who you bastards cursed from birth is beaten in the streets and made to feel like some sort of monster?!" Rick shouted.

"Now wait one moment." Sandaime began.

"Oh and don't even get me started on you! You have allowed this to happen! You failed to protect him. You failed to give him a home. And you failed to prevent the abuse he has suffered! If I didn't need you help, I'd turn around and walk out this door."

Sandaime sat shell shocked at the accusations made by this alien. But the more he thought about it, the more what he had said was true. Sandaime looked at his desk in shame, trying hard to ignore the angry and disgusted look on the admiral's face.

"So what do I do for him?" Sandaime asked.

"You no longer have to worry about that. I'll take him and if I know my crew, half of them will be more than willing to take him in."

Sandaime looked up at him in shock.

"Absolutely out of the question. Naruto must stay in my village."

"No. He isn't. He has already suffered enough. And if you truly cared about him, you'd have done more to protect him. And, don't bother trying tp black mail me or negotiate him back into your custody." The Admiral said as he rose to his feet.

Sandaime watched him leave and had to smile. It seems Naruto would get the home he deserved.

Xxxxx

Rick entered the med bay and spotted Doctor Lang looking over the boy.

"How is he, doc?" Rick asked once he reached the doctor.

Lang looked over to Rick and gestured to follow him to his office. Both men entered and took their preferred seats. Doctor Lang gave Rick a peculiar look.

"The boy is fine. In fact, he's perfectly healed. And that confuses me because the way that Colonel Sterling described his wounds, he should still be bleeding. But, he was completely healed. And, I discovered something interesting." Doctor Lang turned his computer screen.

Rick scanned the screen before his eyes widened in shocked as he looked back at Doctor Lang.

"Are you serious?"

Lang nodded his head.

"But…how did he get protoculture in his body?"

"I don't know. But I did a scan and found out that these people have protoculture in there blood. And it seems that those that use this 'chakra' have a higher protoculture amount compared to those who don't use it." Lang explained.

Rick leaned back in his seat.

"Are you saying there is some sort of connection between protoculture and this chakra?"

"Yes. In fact, I believe they are one in the same. We have seen what the effect it has on those who eat it. What's to say that those who evolved on a planet with extremely high concentrations of it could cause these effects. We still don't know what the effect prolonged exposure to protoculture can do to life itself."

Rick continued to look over the results before he nodded his head.

"I see what you mean. Run any test you need to on the sample you currently have."

"Aye sir."

Rick exited Lang's office and was surprised to see the little boy looking around. Rick smiled and walked over to the boy who looked at him in fear, making Rick feel sickened at the people on this planet. Rick sat down next to the bed.

"Hello. My name's Rick. Rick Hunter."

The boy hesitated before he answered.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Naruto. How are you feeling?" Rick asked him.

"Um…Fine. Just a little hungry."

"Well, what do you say we go get something to eat?" Rick asked him.

Naruto nodded before he looked over to Doctor Lang who gave him a smile and a nod to let him know it was alright.

"Umm…Mr. Hunter? I need some clothes."

Rick chuckled as he stood up.

"It's okay. We replicated your old clothes."

Naruto looked over to the table next to him and saw the fresh clothes before he looked back to Rick.

"T-Thank you."

Rick waved him off.

"Eh…Don't worry about it. Get dressed and we'll go to my place for dinner."

Xxxxx

Lisa was rather surprised to see Rick enter the room with a small blonde boy. She walked over to Rick with a curious look on her face.

"Lisa. This is Naruto. He'll be living on board from now on."

Lisa raised and eyebrow at Rick before she kneeled down in front of Naruto and gave him a smile.

"Hello. I'm Lisa."

Naruto smiled.

"Hello."

Lisa stood up as the door behind her opened and Claudia stepped out and froze as she noticed Naruto. Rick wanted to laugh at her expression of fear, curiosity, and confusion. Lisa turned to see the same thing.

"Claudia…This is Naruto. He'll be staying awhile." Rick explained.

Claudia walked over to him and smiled as she held out her hand.

"Hi Naruto. My name is Claudia."

Naruto grabbed her hand and shook it briefly.

"Your cute." He blurted out before he caught himself.

Rick watched bemusedly as Naruto slapped his hand over his mouth and blush as Claudia looked away, blushing slightly.

"Oh…Um…Thank you."

Lisa was fighting to not laugh at her daughter's sudden shyness.

"Claudia? Why don't you go play with Naruto for a while. Dinner won't be ready for another half hour."

Claudia looked over to her mother with a slight smile.

"Okay. Bye Mommy. Bye Daddy. Come on Naruto!" She called as she grabbed Naruto's hand and headed off for the nearest play ground.

Lisa shook her head in amusement before she caught Rick's serious expression.

"Rick. What is it?"

"We've found protoculture."

Xxxxx

In the half hour while Claudia and Naruto played in the park, Rick and Lisa discussed everything. From Naruto having a creature sealed into him to Doctor Lang's discovery that chakra and protoculture were one in the same. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Lisa spoke.

"What now?

Rick leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms.

"I figured you'd have known what I was planning."

Lisa smirked.

"I know exactly what your planning. I just wanted to know I was right."

Rick chuckled.

"When have you ever been wrong about me?"

Lisa raised an eyebrow.

"Does the name Lynn Minmei ring any bells?"

Xxxxx

Naruto was happy. He and Claudia were having a great time with the other children in the park. It was the first time that anyone had been willing to play with him and he was enjoying it. Claudia was also enjoying herself as well because most of the children on the ship were hesitant about playing with her in fear that they'd do something wrong and get their parents in trouble. Now, seeing some random boy playing with her, the other children found the courage to play with her. And it was with a hint of sadness that the two excused themselves with promises to meet up with them soon. The two children laughed all the way back to the Hunters' quarters for dinner. Lisa meet them at the door and ushered the children in, Naruto laughing while Claudia had a sour look on her face. Lisa watched as Claudia rounded on Naruto with a amusement in her eyes.

"Ha ha! I'm sorry. It was funny!"

Claudia shook her head.

"Well, we'll see how much your laughing when I put you in a skirt and make you walk over a vent." She said hotly.

That shut Naruto up but caused a whole other bought of laughter from Rick and Lisa. To say that the night was interesting was an understatement.

Xxxxx

The next day, the first of several shipments of materials arrived with a surprised Rick accepting the supplies from a rather disgruntled Sandaime. The old man made a direct beeline for Rick, intent on confronting the man. Rick knew what was coming and just waited.

"Admiral Hunter." He called once he was near enough.

"Sandaime Hokage." Rick acknowledged.

Sarutobi stopped just out of arms reach.

"What can I do for you?" Rick asked, knowing perfectly what he was going to ask.

"I would like for you to return Naruto to my care. I have found some one very exceptionally gifted to take care of him." He began.

Rick silenced him with a raised hand.

"No. For one, I do not trust you at all. And I sure as hell don't trust anyone your nominating."

Sarutobi chuckled.

"Well, I figured you'd like to at least see who it is, so I brought him with me. Allow me to introduce Jiraiya the Toad Sage, one the Legendary three shinobi."

Rick watched as another man with a long mane of white hair with a red vest and a large object tied to his back appeared next to the oldman. Rick immediately distrusted the man.

"What's your connection to the boy?" Rick asked.

The man grinned.

"I'm his Godfather." That was as far as he got before he found his nose broken and bleeding profusely.

"What the hell?!" He yelled as he clasped his hand over his nose.

Sandaime watched in an amused fashion as Rick wiped the blood from his knuckles.

"I refuse. For one, if this man is his Godfather, why was the boy neglected? Beaten? Abandoned?" Rick demanded.

Jiraiya looked at the man, enraged.

"Now wait just a minute! I may admit I've been a tad negligent, but I've never received any reports of beatings in the reports I received! And he well cared for! I sent a generous stipend to the boy!" Jiraiya retorted.

This time, Sandaime spoke.

"Jiraiya, in my reports were the cases of beatings. And to what stipend our your refering to, because no extra money was ever sent to the boy."

It was Jiraiya's turn to be confused.

"But…all the reports have your signature on them. Here. This is the one I got from you two months ago." He said as he fished out a scroll from his pocket and handed it to the oldman. Sarutobi opened it and began to read it before he snapped it shut.

"I see what is going on here. Jiraiya. We need to speak to the council. And my secretary."

Both men left leaving a very confused Rick.

Xxxxx

Sarutobi and Jiraiya stormed into the council chamber with several confused members. One of the council members, a pink haired woman rose from her chair.

"Lord Hokage. Why have we been summoned?" She asked.

"Sit down, Haruno. You have all are in very deep trouble." Sarutobi said harshly as he dropped into his chair. "I want someone to explain to me why official documents have been altered. And why official funds have failed to make their way to the appropriate parties."

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage, but to what are you refering?" The council man named Danzo questioned.

"I am referring to my reports on one Naruto Uzumaki to Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Instantly, the chamber became abuzz with why this was so important until Sarutobi silenced the chambers by slamming his fist on the table.

"Silence! I know the documents have been forged! And I want to know where the stipend Jiraiya has been sending for his Godson has disappeared to?" He demanded.

The civilian members began to look guilty while the shinobi members looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Hiashi Hyuuga asked.

"He means that I have been sending my godson extra money to help live comfortably by. I know how much the stipend he is supposed to receive from the village is."

"We have not seen anything on any extra stipend for Naruto." Inochi spoke.

The rest of the shinobi council nodded while the civilians continued to look even more guilty, something Sarutobi caught.

"You had better explain yourselves for denying a child what was rightfully his!" Sarutobi yelled.

"That is no child!" Haruno screamed. "It is a demon! We falsified the reports. Who cares if it is beaten?! After what it did to our village, the Yondaime should have killed it! _You_ should have killed it! As for the money?" She laughed. "It went to a much more important task. Increasing the wages of the civilians. They are much more dissevering of it than _it_ is."

No one to this day would be able to say who exactly it was who threw the kunai, but the effect was instantaneous. Okkuu Haruno was killed by a kunai to her temple. The rest of the civilian council began to look to the Hokage fearfully, who in turned glared at them.

"Each of you are charged with treason for altering government records. Your execution dates will be set within the week. Anbu. Take them to the holding cells and tell Ibiki that he'll be working over time today." Sarutobi ordered.

The Anbu appeared and took the civilians as the shinobi watched with hardened glares. Danzo looked at the civilians in disgust as did the other two advisors.

"Fools." Danzo muttered as Sarutobi regained everyone's attention.

"As of now, I am granting Admiral Hunter full guardianship of the boy. As of what I have seen, I conclude that he is in much better hands with him. Until such time as I deem otherwise, I want none of our shinobi to go within five hundred yards of the ship their on. Understood?"

A resounding chorus' of 'yes' sounded through the chamber. Sarutobi nodded in satisfaction.

"Very well. Now, we need to discuss…"

The meeting went on with discussions as to increase the amount of raw material that the aliens needed. Except for one. Danzo kept his outer appearance calm, but on the inside he was enraged.

"_Damn those civilians! They have ruined my plans! I must get that demon back. With that power at my disposal, I'd be able to even take on the Fire Lord himself. I must have him by any means."_

Xxxxx

Rick felt an uneasy knot form in his gut as he looked over at Naruto and Claudia as they played a video game. Rick grabbed his com unit and raised the bridge.

"Edwards? It's Hunter. Increase security. Lock down all external hatches except to military personnel." He ordered.

Edwards voice came back with a hint of confusion.

"_Any particular reason why we're increasing security?"_

"Lets just say I have a bad feeling. I won't keep you any longer. Hunter out."

Rick put his com down as he watched Claudia win another round at their game. He couldn't help but hope he was wrong.


	4. Chapter 4: Whiplash

Chapter 4 Last Straw

Admiral Edwards looked over his display again, seeing all the same readings as before. And sighed. It was beginning to become very clear to him that this world was extremely primitive. Even more so than Earth was before the SDF-1 crashed landed on it. But, he supposed it was to each his own. It was after a few minutes that he realized that a young Lieutenant Commander had been trying to get his attention.

"I'm sorry commander. What were you trying to tell me?"

The commander shook his head slightly before he handed the Admiral the pad.

"I was reporting that our motion sensors have picked up faint movement by the port bow where the construction crews are working on repairs."

Edwards looked over the pad and got an uneasy feeling in his gut. But he didn't get this far by ignoring his instincts.

"Have Red Squadron move to the area. I want the thermals and bio scanners online for entry to every section. It may just be a small animal, but if these people are like the ninja of Earth's history, they are very stealthy." He ordered as he handed the pad back to the young man.

The Commander saluted and moved to carry out his orders as Edwards punched up Rick's personal com unit.

"Rick? It's Edwards. We're getting some strange readings from the repair site. I've order the security level increased to level beta. It's probably nothing, but I figured you'd like to know."

Rick's reply came back amidst the sounds of laughter on the other end.

"_Understood. Keep me informed."_

"Will do. Edwards out."

Xxxxxx

Rick closed his com and turned to see Naruto looking at him with a question burning in his eyes.

"What is it Naruto?" He asked the young boy.

Naruto looked embarrassed as he shuffled his feet as he placed a hand on the back of his head.

"Um…I was wondering…Do you think…? I mean…Can you teach me to fly those?" He asked, pointing at a picture on a nearby stand.

Rick looked over to where he was pointing and smiled. It was a picture of him, Roy, Ben, and Max after he had been given command of vermilion squadron. He looked back to Naruto, kneeling down to his level.

"Sure can. But you have to understand something Naruto. That life style will take you away from this planet. And it'll be hard work. You'll have to train very hard. Once you get this Robotech stuff in your blood, it's there to stay. Do you want that?" He asked the boy.

Rick had learned after spending time with the boy, that he was much older mentally than he should be. The boy understood things that would have most eight year olds spinning in circles, trying to figure them out. He had also learned something else from the Hokage as well that made him even angrier at these people. He watched as Naruto looked at the ground, obviously thinking very hard. It was a few moments before he spoke.

"So I'd have to leave?" He asked.

Rick nodded and Naruto gave him a saddened look.

"I'd have to leave the old man. And I'll never know who my parents were."

"We know who they are."

Naruto looked at him with wide eyes.

"Who were they?"

Rick sighed and he and Naruto moved to the couch. Rick picked up the pad he gotten from Doctor Lang and handed it to Naruto. The boy accepted the pad and read over it. He had surprised Rick when he'd read the pad on Lang's report on the Protoculture. He watched as Naruto's eyes widened in shock before he lowered the pad as he looked over to Rick.

"How…how do you know this?" He asked.

Rick went into his explanation on how Doctor Lang had managed to hack their medical database and ran a check on on Naruto's DNA profile and had turned up the identities of both of Naruto's parent's and the fact that it had been hidden from him. At the end of it, Rick could see that Naruto was visibly angry.

"They…_He_…lied to me. He told me that no one knew who they were." The boy told him, tears threatening to spill down his face.

Rick placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know your upset. But I have to tell you that this is completely up to you. The old man made me your legal guardian, but I'm not going to force anything on you with this life."

Naruto closed his eyes and calmed himself before he looked back to Rick with determination.

"I'll do it. Besides, if I go back, I'll just get beaten."

Rick smiled.

"Good. We'll get you enrolled for school tomorrow. I'll talk to the teachers about an aptitude test as well."

Naruto nodded before he began yawning. Rick chuckled and showed Naruto to the guest room and left once Naruto thanked him and began to change to his sleeping clothes. Rick moved to the common area and plopped down on the couch as Lisa entered the room, tossing the apron on the chair in the corner and joined Rick. He put his arm around her and pulled her close as she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I missed this." She said softly.

Rick nodded and closed his eyes, inhaling her scent.

"Yeah. It's been too long since we've just kicked back-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off by warning sirens and the unmistakable sound of Edwards voice over the com.

"_Intruder alert! Repeat intruder alert! Admiral Rick Hunter to the bridge!"_

Rick cursed the timing and leapt to his feet, running as fast as he could to the bridge, leaving Lisa to keep the children safe.

Xxxxx

The ROOT member cursed. They hadn't even managed to get into the ship before they set off the alarms inside the alien vessel and he has lost six of his best men to their defense systems. He now only had two left with him when they came across the counter boarders. The ninja hesitated for a split second, trying to determine the best action to take. The Marines did not. One nin went down from the combined arms fire of the defenders. The larger one managed to throw an explosive note that wounded three of the twelve Marines before a single head shot dropped him. He ducked around a nearby corner and felt surprise that he could not sense any chakra besides the boy. The ROOT member pushed the thoughts aside and leapt up to the next deck through the stair well and continued. The boy was on this level he was sure. And he kept Danzo's orders in his mind. If he couldn't bring the boy back, eliminate him.

Xxxxx

Rick looked over the scanner and he realized exactly where the intruder was going. He grabbed the nearest com unit as he rushed off the bridge.

"Lisa! Come in!"

Getting no response from his com, he hurried to his room, drawing his pistol and arming it as he came to the door. Rick saw that it was ajar. Rick readied himself before he ducked into the room, bringing his pistol up to see the intruder holding Naruto by the neck with a knife to his throat. Rick kept the man in his sights and glanced over to see Lisa out cold with blood trickling down her face from her hair and Claudia on the ground with a swollen lip and check. Rick felt his anger rise as he looked at the calm intruder.

"Lower your weapon and the boy will not be harmed." The man ordered calmly.

"How about you put the boy down and give up. You'll live longer that way." Rick said hotly.

"I am afraid I cannot do that. I have orders to retrieve this boy. If not, I am to kill him." He informed Rick.

Rick looked to Naruto was obviously terrified but seemed to be okay. Rick smirked at the man.

"You seemed to have forgotten one thing."

The man gave him a confused look.

"What's that?"

"Your not superman." Rick said with a grin.

The man was puzzled but the pistol report blew his confusion away. Along with a sizable portion of his head. The man's body dropped to the deck with Naruto moving away, trembling. Standing behind the body was Edwards, holding a smoking gun.

"Only he can outrun a speeding bullet." Edwards stated before he looked over to Rick. "You alright?"

Rick nodded as the medics came rushing into the room, checking Lisa and Claudia before they moved them to the infirmary. Rick moved to the body and pulled the bloodied headband off of the corpse and looked to Edwards.

"Get my fighter ready."

"Invid buster load out?" Edwards asked.

"Yeah. But reflex warheads only. I don't trust that shadow tech we got from the Haydonties. Bastards are two timers." Rick muttered.

"Should I take the Snychro cannons off-line?"

"Just until we isolate and remove their damn back door. And dismantle all neutron-S warheads. I'd do it myself but I have an old bearded bastard to take care of."

Xxxxx

Sandaime Hokage was very surprised to see an angry Rick in his doorway. Before he could say anything, Rick threw a bloodied headband at him. Sandaime caught it and gave him a questioning look.

"That was from your extraction squad."

Sandaime at this point was disturbed by this news.

"I gave no such order."

"Than explain why I have nine dead men who are from your village on my ship."

Sandaime looked over the headband and narrowed his eyes before he felt shock course through his system.

"ROOT?!"


	5. Chapter 5: Years Gone By

(Note: Alright, this chapter will have a bit of a time skip. And for additional information, Doctor Lang managed to break the fox down into the base protoculture and remove it without it killing Naruto. Two, in my universe, the Invid arrived on Earth earlier than in the original universe and left earlier as well. As for the shadow tech, the sentinel races did help out the REF, but the Invid wiped out the Robotech Masters home world, clones included. The REF did meet the Haydonites and got the shadow tech, and when the Haydonite ship knocked the SDF-3 into the black hole even further, Rick and crew managed to get a scan that confirmed it as being a Haydonite ship. As for earth…Well…The Invid were chased off, but a new oppressor is there. Guess who?)

Chapter 5 Years Gone By

The following month showed many changes in the Hidden Leaf Village. For one, Danzo had been publicly executed for treason and so were several of his closet conspirators, the Sandaime's old teammates. Hiruzen felt older than he ever had after the month ended. The only good that happened was that the reports that the Sandaime had received about Naruto made him feel like it was all worth it. He sighed as he turned around and looked out the window over the village. It had been peaceful throughout with out any problems or really anything gone wrong since the executions. Most of the populous were alright with Naruto being out of the village. They could care less about his welfare. The few that actually cared about Naruto, which his could count on one hand, actually missed him but knew he was better off where he was. Sandaime sighed and turned to finish off the pile of paper work he had left.

Xxxxx

Naruto felt happier than he ever had in his life. The past month was perfect for him. For one, the teachers actually been kind and helpful to him, correcting him when he was wrong and praising him when he was correct and explaining things when he didn't understand them. And to make him even happier, when they had given him the aptitude test on basic information, he scored very well. They had said that his scores were good enough to place him in the same class as Claudia. And she was happy too. Both of them had become very good friends in the past month and had even made other friends as well. First was Michel Dixon. Naruto had taken a liking to him because of Michel's tendency to play jokes on others, hence his nickname "Joker". Both boys had started a prank war with the other for the first two weeks Naruto had been aboard before they called a truce and became friends. Next on the list was Jack Bartlett. The kid had confused Naruto to no end. And to even further mess with Naruto, the guy had been able break down and explain to him things the teachers had tried to help him with. Claudia had told Naruto that Jack was his cipher to school work. Jack had liked the term and requested it to be his nickname. They had also befriended one of the kids in a class a few years ahead of them. His name was Steven Gloval. Claudia had explained to Naruto that his uncle, Admiral Henry Gloval had been a major player in the end of the first Robotech War and had even saved Claudia's mother when a rogue Zentradi named Khyron had made a suicide run on the SDF-1. Steven had been over to the Hunters home several times and had meet Naruto. The boy had a very thick accent that Rick had explained to him as a Russian accent. The two had hit it off well. Now, today found Naruto and Claudia heading back home after school. They were heading home when a few older kids stepped out of the shadows. Both Claudia and Naruto stopped upon seeing their smirks. The biggest one, easily a head taller than Naruto stepped forward, obviously their leader.

"He he. Lookie here. We got a few twerps passing through our territory."

"Yeah, and they didn't pay the toll." one of the others piped up.

Claudia gave them a stubborn look that Naruto knew well and groaned. This was going to be a while. The young girl placed her hands on her hips and glared at them.

"I don't think you know who your messing with. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm a push over."

The boys laughed as their leader stepped forward.

"Well well. Looks like the pretty little girl has a mouth on her. Better teach her not to talk back to her superiors!" He said as he brought his toward her face.

Claudia closed her eyes and took an involuntary step back, preparing herself to retaliate when she heard a meaty thud followed by several sharp gasps. Claudia opened her eyes and saw that Naruto was in front of her with his fist in the stomach of the older boy who looked like he was about to puke. It was a few seconds before Naruto pulled his fist back and let the older boy fall to the ground. The other boys stepped back in shock as the blonde boy glared at them.

"Anyone else think their superior?" He asked them in an even voice.

"Nope." They responded as they continued backing off.

Naruto turned to Claudia and gave her a small grin.

"Well, come on. Lets get home."

Claudia nodded and followed Naruto home, feeling butterflies in her stomach.

Xxxxx

October slowly fell upon the crew of the SDF-3. Naruto himself felt very optimistic that this year would be a better birthday than last year. Today, he was sitting in the back of the class with Michel and Jack, all three boys just relaxing during their lunch break.

"Hey, Joker? Got any good pranks in your head?" Naruto asked.

Michel gave him a sad look.

"Sorry Blaze. Mom said she'd ground me till we graduate."

Naruto shrugged.

"Eh. Don't worry about it. I was just bored."

"Well, we could always celebrate your birthday today. Your seven today, right?" Jack asked.

Naruto gave him a curious look.

"How'd you figure that out, Cipher?" Naruto inquired.

Jack grinned at him.

"Your girlfriend told me."

Naruto felt his checks redden.

"She's not my girlfriend."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Then why do you to spend so much time together?"

Naruto opened his mouth before he closed it and just gave him an icy look.

"I am not answering that because you'll use it against me in the near future."

Jack shrugged.

"Suit yourself. But just remember, when you do start to like her, she might be out of your reach."

Naruto didn't respond but decided to think about what he was going to do tonight. The rest of the day passed without any in problems. True to his word and the teacher's relief, Michel didn't pull a single prank. At the end of the day, Naruto began his walk back to his room when Claudia came up behind him and covered his eyes.

"Guess who?"

Naruto sighed.

"Claudia. Now can we go home?" He asked.

Claudia dropped her hands as she walked beside Naruto, giving him a curious look.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Cipher insinuated that we're a couple."

Claudia blushed and couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought. Sure, they were still little kids, but she still liked boys. When she had asked her mother about that, Lisa had told her that the way she liked boys would change as she got older. But when Claudia had asked what she had meant, Lisa turned slightly red and told her she'd tell her when she got older.

"What did you tell him?" She asked him.

"I didn't say anything. Because if I said no, he would have mad it seem that I didn't like you. And if I said yeah, he make it seem like we're more than friends." He explained, not seeing her slightly downcast expression.

"Oh. Well…don't worry about Cipher. We all know how he is. So…excited about today?" She asked, her smile not as big as it was.

"Not really. I meant, yeah, I turn seven, but it's really nothing special about today."

Claudia wondered why he wasn't as excited but pushed those thoughts aside as they reached the Hunters quarters. Claudia grinned as she gripped the handle.

"Well, guess you'd better get over it."

Naruto was puzzled as she yanked the door open. He had been on edge since they had left the school and Claudia had insisted that they take the long way home. He had a sneaking suspicion that she was buying time for something, but didn't want to get his hopes up. But the cries of 'Happy Birthday' made his heart swell with emotion. Naruto felt tears fall down his cheeks as he was pulled into the room and felt hands clap his shoulders and a hug from Lisa as he grinned stupidly at his friends. Each of them were grinning at him. Naruto looked over to see a smiling Claudia. Naruto figured that he owed her something more than just a thank you. Naruto excused himself and headed over to Claudia as Rick and Lisa watched with a grin. Rick leaned over to Lisa.

"Wanna bet he thanks her for this?"

Lisa smirked.

"I'll see you a thanks and raise you a kiss."

Rick grinned impishly.

"You got yourself a deal. And when I win, I get that fantasy I've been trying to talk you into." He said with a perverted twinkle in his eye.

"Fine. But I win, you have to volunteer to be in Claudia's next school play. And yes, the tutu is required."

Rick closed his mouth and really hoped that he would win the bet. Both adults continued to watch as Naruto made his way to her. The young blonde tapped her shoulder which caused her to jump. The girl she was talking to rolled her eyes and left as Claudia turned to face the grinning blonde.

"I think I figured out your nickname."

Claudia blinked at him in confusion before she realized what he was talking about. He had promised her he'd get one to remind her of something embarrassing just like she gave him one for when he managed to set his pants on fire. He'd leapt into one of the lakes in the park and had come out of the water missing his clothes, something that she thought was hilarious.

"Really? What?"

"Well, how about Edge? Your always on edge and get jumpy. You never seem to relax unless you're here at home, or it's just the two of us hanging out." He told her.

Claudia ponder it for a moment. She nodded, knowing that it could have been much worse. She smiled.

"Edge it is then. Now, was there something you wanted?" She asked.

Naruto grinned.

"Yeah. I wanna say thanks for this." He said happily.

Rick grinned at Lisa.

"Oh yeah. I win. Next time we're alone, I get my fantasy."

"Not so fast, pervert. He hasn't walked away from her yet."

Rick looked back over to them and watched. Claudia gave him a curious look.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Naruto took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and leaned forward, placing a quick kiss on her cheek and pulled back, ginning like an idiot. The sounds of wolf whistles sounded around them and a few applause and one whispered curse word from a certain Rick Hunter.

"Well, as I was saying. Thank you…Edge." And with that, he scampered off to chase Jack and Michel, who was laughing manically leaving Claudia to stand rooted to the spot with her left hand on the spot Naruto had kissed. A small smile crossed her lips as she turned and walked back to her room, smiling happily. Rick looked to Lisa who was smiling sweetly.

"Now…about that play."

Rick sighed and lowered his head in defeat as Naruto and the others continued to have fun.

Xxxxx

Four years went by quickly for everyone on board the SDF-3. The repairs on her systems went by without trouble which an extremely happy Olsen reported just twelve hours ago. Now, Rick was overseeing the final preparations for departure as Lisa entered the bridge with a smile on her face. Rick looked up at her before returning his gaze to the pad in his hands.

"Well, don't you look happy."

She nodded as she sat in the chair next to his and pulled a pad out of her pocket and handed it to him.

"Doctor Lang and I have figured out how to return us to the Omicron sector. And without the damage we suffered getting here."

Rick nodded his head as he looked over the pad and looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Well, we'll see how accurate you both are in the next few hours. We launch in thirty minutes and will fold once I'm sure the ship is truly ready."

Lisa nodded before she looked out the window behind them.

"Lets just hope we're not too late. All our estimates show that the RDF should have run out of protoculture by now. And with the Haydonites turning on us four years ago, who's to say that they haven't attacked Earth yet."

Rick paused at the door and looked back at her.

"We'll just rebuild Earth again. Already did it once."

With that, he left and headed for the bridge.

Xxxxx

Lisa was unhappy. Their attempt to recreate the effects that brought them to this sector of the galaxy had failed. The fold drive had overloaded itself when they attempted to jump home. The worst part was that it would take several years to make it home with out the fold system, which they did not have the components to rebuild. It would be a very long trip, already estimated to be close to seven years at best speed. Lisa looked at her pad sadly as she realized that they had failed so hopelessly. Earth was probably already lifeless, or on the verge and they wouldn't be able to get there to make any difference at all. Rick had already gone to address the ship and crew and told them that the Earth they had left was gone and that it would be up to them to rebuild again. Lisa threw the pad against the wall, shattering it. God how she hated this.

Xxxxx

Rick wanted to cry after he made the broadcast. Nothing like telling everyone on the ship 'Hey. You failed. Earth is dead. You suck.' He wanted to beat his head against a nearby bulkhead but knew it wouldn't do anything besides give him a head ache. That he could do with out. Now…he had to get his crew back home and rebuild human civilization. Again.

Xxxxxx

Seven years can change someone. And the people aboard the SDF-3 were no different. What once was a group of 70,000 humans total was now over 95,000 with roughly a third of that part of the RDF now. The children of seven years ago were now part of the defenders of humanity and the SDF-3, the last of the human race and the RDF. Naruto, Jack, Michel, and Claudia all sat in the briefing room for the Dark Knights Squadron. The four of them had been placed under the Dark Knights and were going to be in the same flight together. Naruto looked around and saw what each of his friends were doing. Michel was doodling on his pad. He had some pretty good talent when it came to the art stuff. Jack was just staring off into space, not a care in the world with Claudia simply staring at her watch, obviously impatient. Naruto reached over and squeezed her hand in a comforting way.

"Hey. Calm down. Glaring holes in your watch isn't going to help."

Claudia rolled her eyes but smiled anyway as they both resumed waiting. Naruto put his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling. He wondered what his old world was like now. He hadn't had any friends there except the oldman. And it wasn't like anyone had even bothered to get to know him. But here, he had friends and people who cared. He was broken from his musings by the door opening. Naruto looked to see who it was and was slightly surprised. A woman with pink hair entered the room followed by a man with dark brown hair followed her. It took Naruto a moment to realize who the man was. It was Steven Gloval! Naruto had to admit, he looked just like his uncle, with out the mustache of course. The woman sat down in the chair infont of them as Steven leaned against the wall. She looked them over and took their appearance before speaking.

"Well…welcome to the hellhounds. I'm Captain Maia Sterling. This is my second in command, Lieutenant Gloval. Call sign swordsman. I want each of you to introduce myself so I know who the nuggets under my command are. We'll start with the blonde girl."

Claudia narrowed her eyes. She hated being called a blonde even if it was dark blonde hair she had on her head. Naruto looked over to her and found himself looking her over, like he had for the hundredth time. She was slim, but athletic. She had shoulder length dark blonde hair, blue eyes and a nice sized bust. Naruto couldn't help but marvel at how well she had filled out and become a very attractive woman. But she was out of his reach, like Cipher had said she would be. Hell, she was dating the same bastard that Naruto had put down the first month he was on board. Only because he was a damn sports star.

"My name is Corporal Claudia Lynn Hunter. Call sign Edge."

Maia gave her a flat look.

"Alright. Tubby, your up."

Michel huffed in annyance. Now, Naruto would admit that Michel was a big guy, but it wasn't fat. He was by far the most fit person that Naruto had ever met. He had unruly black hair that seemed to shoot up in random ways, kinda like the Inu masked ANBU who had guarded Naruto several tims when he was young did. (Three guess as to who I'm refering to, but you'll only need one.) He was tall, about half a foot taller than Naruto. His green eyes seemed to hold the same laughter he brought out in others.

"Corporal Michel Dixon. Call sign, Joker." He finished with a grin.

Maia gave him a confused look.

"Why that one?"

Michel's eyes sparkled with mischief.

"You'll just have to wait and see Skipper."

Maia opened her mouth to correct him but though better of it and turned her attention to Jack.

"And you?"

Jack was easily the most civilian looking of them. His brown hair was cut short on the side with it sweeping forward, like the old high and tights the American military was so found of, particularly, the USMC. He had brown eyes and look almost bored.

"Jack Bartlett. Cipher."

"No need to explain the call sign. I've seen your test scores. Now, on to the orange wearing target."

Naruto grinned as he glanced down at his flight suit. He'd always proffered orange and at least he now had an excuse to wear it.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Blaze is my call sign."

"Why the hell is that your call sign?" Maia asked.

She had no word that he was a pyro or anything like that. Naruto shrugged.

"Accident when I was eight caused my pants to catch fire. I had made the mistake of lowing a lit sparkler too close to my shorts."

Maia looked the over and leaned back.

"Alright. Tomorrow we begin flying as a team. Be here at 0700 for our first brief. Until then, your dismissed."

The all rose as one and snapped off a salute before making a bee line to the door. Naruto slowed and looked back at the two.

"Want to join us? We're headed out to celebrate."

Steven paused before he smiled.

"I believe I will join you. It has been a while anyway." Naruto smirked and clapped his shoulder.

"Good man! Captain? What about you?" He asked, turning to the pink haired woman.

Maia gave him a bemused expression.

"You go run along. I still have to meet with Captain Baker and give him my report."

Naruto and Steven left and managed to catch up with the others and caught an argument with Claudia and the others.

"Come on Edge!" Michel pleaded.

Claudia shook her head. Across the street, Lisa was watching with interest. She was coming to congratulate her and Naruto but had paused when she hard Claudia's elevated voice.

"I can't. I promised Bobby I'd go see his game tonight."

Naruto frowned in disgust at the name as he caught up.

"Bobby Redfield can wait Claudia. We're your friends." He replied.

Claudia rounded on him and glared at him.

"He's my boyfriend! He needs my support!"

Naruto started to get angry at this point. He had tried to tell Claudia several times that Bob Redfeild was not right for her, even going as far as trying to tell her he had caught him cheating, which he did, Michel was a witness to that one having been there when they had caught him.

"Yeah. He'll be fine. Besides, Cathleen Douglas is there to cheer for him."

Lisa winced. She knew Naruto had over stepped his place on that one. She remained in the shadows and continued to watch as both Naruto and her daughter continued to get angrier and angrier. Claudia brought her hand across Naruto's right check, leaving a reddened handprint in it's place. All gathered blinked in shocked.

"How dare you! I can't believe you! You should be happy for me! But your just some little boy who's too immature to even understand how serious we are!" Claudia accused hotly.

Naruto felt his eye brow twitch.

"Well…Maybe if you weren't some delusional old sourpuss, you'd see past your infatuation and see that he's not what he sells you."

Lisa couldn't help but feel that this sounded a bit familiar.

"Old sourpuss?!" Claudia screamed, outraged.

Naruto walked past her, giving her a cool look.

"C'mon guys. Lets let Claudia go see Bobby boy." He said.

Claudia glared at him as he and the other left, albeit, hesitantly and headed for the stadium, chin held high. Lisa sighed and moved out of the shadows and clicked the com unit. Her husbands aged face appeared on the screen.

"Rick. We have a problem. Claudia is upset."

Rick's face hardened as he began reaching out of the camera's sight.

"Let me get my bat."

"It's not Bobby. Well…it is…but it's more about Naruto and Claudia. Naruto implied that Bobby is cheating on our little girl. It's the second time he's said something like this and we both know he wouldn't lie about this. We have to do something about this."

Rick paused as he took in what Lisa had told him. He moved and began reaching to his left instead of his right.

"Let me get my gun."

"I'm not talking about Bobby!"

Xxxxxx

Claudia watched as Bobby scored the final touchdown of the game with the crowd roaring and screaming at the end of the game. She began to push and fight her way to the bottom row of the stands to get to Bobby and congratulate him. She saw his smiling face tearing across the field toward the stands, grinning from ear to ear. She smiled at his happiness but she froze in place when she saw one of the cheerleaders tear out to meet him. Claudia recognized her as Cathleen. Her heart shattered as she pulled him into a kiss that he seemed more than happy to return. Claudia felt her eyes tear up as Bobby pulled away and gave the other girl a happy smile. Claudia turned and rushed back out of the stadium in tears.

Xxxxx

Naruto kicked a nearby stone and took a calming breath as he headed to his own personal quarters. He had to admit that it was nice of the Admiral to do this for him. He rounded the corner and noticed that the door was ajar. He cautious moved forward and pushed when he heard sobs. Naruto entered and saw Claudia laying on his couch, crying. Naruto didn't know how to handle this situation.

"Claudia?"

The girl looked over at him, tears running down her face. She rushed over to him and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his chest as he maneuvered both of them to the couch she had just vacated.

"What's wrong?"

Claudia sniffled as she looked up at him.

"You were right. You were right. I'm sorry I slapped you earlier. I should have listened to you. But I didn't. Can you forgive me?"

Naruto smiled at her.

"Of course. Let's get you home then."

Claudia gives him a small smile.

"Actually. Would it be okay if I stayed here for the night? I don't want to be alone tonight."

The night passed happily for the two as they both relaxed and enjoyed the others presence.

* * *

Omake-Rick's Tutu

Rick shook his head as Lisa smirked at him.

"No. I won't do it."

"You agreed to." Lisa countered.

"I won't."

Lisa sighed and crossed her arms.

"What do I have to do to get you to uphold your end of the bet? Tell the crew you don't make good on your promises?"

Rick paused and sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Besides. It's not like this will end up being seen by anyone else." He muttered as he grabbed the tutu.

Xxxxxxx

Rick entered the bridge of the SDF-3 the next day and heard snickering all around him as the crew each caught sight of him. He shrugged his shoulders and moved to his command chair and sat down, sighing at the feling of the soft chair. The sound of footsteps caused him to look over to see a smirking Edwards headed toward him, pad in hand. This caused Rick to get a bad feeling in his gut for whenever Edwards smirked, it meant something that would embarrass him.

"Good morning Edwards."

"Good morning Hunter."

Rick waited but was beginning to get freaked out by the amused look in Edwards eye.

"What is so funny?"

"Nothing. Just that pink really brings out your eyes." He said, laughing as he handed the pad to Rick.

Rick quickly took it felt his eyes widen.

"LISA!" He screamed as he rushed off the bridge to question his wife's sanity.

On the dropped pad showed Rick in a pink leotard with a fluffy pink tutu dancing with his daught in a matching outfit in her practice for her recital.


	6. Chapter 6: Time Wizard Hunter

Chapter 6 Time Wizard Hunter

Rick was shocked. On the view screen was the worst thing he had ever seen. For where there had once been the beautiful planet Earth, was now a dark and swirling black hole. Debris littered the surrounding area, all burned out hulks of REF vessels. Rick slammed his fist against the table in anger and sorrow. He had failed. Massively. His warning to not use the Neutron-S warheads had fallen on deaf ears. Rick turned away from the display and sunk into his command chair as silence fell upon the room. Rick didn't even know what to tell them at this time. All he knew was that everything they had fought for was over. He gave a heavy sigh and was about to call Doctor Lang when said man appeared on the bridge, and for some reason, he was beaming widely. Rick raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you smiling?" Rick asked.

"I figured out how to use this black hole to our advantage."

"Care to explain?" He inquired.

"As you know, black holes are not destroyers in a sense. They take any matter they suck in and push it out in a different time and place. In essence, they are time machines. If we can recreate Doctor Louis' fold sphere manuvear, and using the protoculture recovered from the boy, we can actually force a break in time and space. Add in a bit of luck, and we will be here when it really matters."

Rick felt his jaw drop as he took in what Lang had told him. It was several seconds later when Rick managed to speak.

"You mean that we can actually go back and prevent this from happening?"

Lang nodded but his joyful expression changed abruptly.

"There is a risk. If our calculations are off, even by half a percent, we will be destroyed by the reflex furnace feeding back in upon itself and implode. In short, we blow up."

Rick gave him a hard look.

"How big a risk?"

Lang pulled a pad of paper out of his pocket.

"I estimate a forty percent chance of a total structural implosion."

Rick's eye widened.

"You want me to authorize this when the odds of us being killed are so high?"

Doctor Lang shock his head.

"I can increase our odds up to seventy percent, no more. The sheer stresses on the hull are unavoidable."

Rick shook his head and faced the doctor.

"Why should we even try this? We can start over again, on another world."

"Rich Hunter. I can't believe you. What happened to taking risks? What happened to nothing too big to save the earth?"

Rick turned to face the speaker and saw Lisa staring at him in disbelief.

"Look what all my risks have caused." He said and pointed at the black hole. "That. If I had listened to others before, we wouldn't have been pulled into a black hole in the first place. We'd have been able to prevent this!"

Lisa shook her head.

"Pity. You have self pitty for yourself. You think you failed us and earth."

He gave her a leveled look.

"There is pretty good evidence sitting right in front of us that I failed."

"My God Rick. Stop this self pitty! You want to know what your risks have done?"

Rick crossed his arms as the bridge crew watched. Edwards didn't know weather he should stop this, or let Rick get the slap to his senses he needed or no one here would survive.

"One, you took risks all during our trip with the SDF-1 and you managed to save our collective asses more than once. Two, you took many risks during our mission to get to Tirol. Three, you saved our lives when we were caught in the black hole. And you took a risk with me. Do I have to go on?"

Rick looked away from her in shame. Everything she had said was true. Rick took a deep breath before he looked to Doctor Lang.

"How long will it take for you get it set up?" He asked.

Doctor Lang gave Lisa a small smile before he turned his attention back to Rick.

"Twenty-four hours. Thirty-six to negate some of the risk to our hull." He informed him.

"Get started. In the mean time, lets keep a low profile. I don't want to meet up with any of our old friends right now."

Xxxxx

Naruto was roused from his sleep by the sound of running water. Now this wouldn't been weird to him normally until he realized he was still in bed. Opening one bleary eye, he noted with disappointment that he had been sleeping on his couch. Now while it was comfortable to sit on, sleeping on was a different matter. With a pained groan, he rose to sitting position and tried to make heads or tails out of the time on the clock. Six. Good. He cautiously pushed the bathroom door open only to come face to face with Claudia. They both flushed crimson, and both thanked whoever was watching over them that she already had a towel around her wet body. Naruto stepped aside and she hurried past him to the bedroom to get dressed while Naruto striped down and jumped into the shower. It took him fifteen minutes to get full done and done his flight suit. Naruto sat on the couch and waited an additional ten minutes for Claudia to exit the bedroom. This was it. Naruto took a deep breath and stood up.

"Hey. I was wondering if you'd like to…hang out or something later?" he finished lamely.

Claudia gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm…I'm sorry Naruto. I can't. If I made you think anything beyond friendship was possible, then I'm sorry. I…I should go." And with that, she left as quickly.

Naruto stared at the door before he let out a choice curse word.

"Damn it. Good one Uzumaki. You should have known she was out of your league." He said out loud in a bitter tone as he grabbed his flight back and left.

Naruto found the nearest lift and tapped in the Dark Knights hanger and watched bitterly as the numbers blurred past him. He barely noticed the lift stop and his two friends enter the lift as well. As usual, Michal failed to notice Naruto's not so happy attitude. Jack, however did, but didn't say anything. As usual. Michel was grinning from ear to ear.

"So…how was your night with Edge?"

Jack glanced at Naruto and saw his expression darken and decided to intervene.

"Joker. I think we should change the subject." He muttered.

Joker looked at him in confusion.

"Why?"

Jack leaned in closer.

"Trust me. I don't think this is something we need be involved in."

Michel nodded and gave up trying to cheer everyone up. The lift ride was quiet all the way to the hanger. The trio stepped off and headed for their VFA-6 fighters. Naruto walked up to his and ran a hand over it's fuselage and smiled slightly as he saw the orange paint on her hull. He had to fight tooth and nail to get his own paint scheme but had won out eventually. He looked back and saw both Jack and Michel looking over their own fighters. Michel chose a yellow paint scheme similar to his Uncle Ben who had been Admiral Hunter's wingman during the first Robotech War. And Jack chose a red scheme for himself. Naruto glanced over at Claudia who had settled on a blue scheme. Next to her fighter was their flight leaders VFB-9 Shadow fighter with pink on it. Naruto simply kept his mouth shut since it wouldn't do to make fun of her paint job when his own was bright orange. The newly formed Hellhound flight milled about, checking their planes over as Captain Sterling came on deck and began her own inspection of her craft. She turned to face her subordinates when the alert system kicked on.

"_Yellow Alert! Unknown contacts detected. 150,000 meters and closing. All pilots, launch!"_

Naruto wasted no time in grabbing his helmet from the nearby workbench it had been resting on and donning it. His crew chief, Chief Burns hurried over helped the blonde pilot get into his cockpit. The hum of activity and the sounds of fighters activating drowned out the intercom as the LSO's and the ground crews began getting their fighters into take off position. Naruto waited as the LSO instructed him into the proper placement for takeoff. Naruto gave the LSO a thumbs up and slammed his throttle forward, engines roaring as the veritech fighter leapt forward and hurtled into space. After a brief moment of vertigo, in which he left the artificial gravity field of the SDF-3. He relished the feeling of being out here. He felt free and completely in control of his life. Naruto smiled lightly and fell into formation behind Swordsman as their flight sped out to meet the incomings. Naruto looked at his scopes and notice they were clear. He tapped his com and brought up a channel to flight leader.

"Blaze to Sterling. I'm showing nothing on my scopes."

"_Joker here. I've got nothing either."_

"_Nothing here either."_ Cipher reported.

The rest of the flight reported the same thing.

"_All units, switch to visual scanners. If it's who I think it is, than we're in trouble." _Maia ordered.

Naruto gasped in shock. There was only one other race that could disappear from sensors so completely that a visual was the only way to pick them up. Sure enough, his visual scanners picked up the distinctive silhouette of Haydonite fighters. Naruto slammed his throttle forward and barrel rolled left as the rest of the flight scattered as the enemy fighters passed between them, weapons blazing. Naruto banked to the right and kept his speed up as he eased one of the enemy fighters into his sights. Naruto held his breath as he depressed the trigger and sent a burst of hot lead at the target. It was with some satisfaction that he watched the fighter turn into a mini sun. He looked around and saw that there were a lot more fighters than earlier.

"Careful Edge. Four bogeys on your tail."

"_Rodger. I got them."_

Naruto watched as her fighter switched to guardian mode and spun her fighter to let lose a hail of hot lead, destroying the targets. Naruto would have congratulated her, but he suddenly became very popular as three fighters came at him from the left. Naruto dived down, and spun his fighter like a top to avoid incoming laser fire. He shifted his fighter into battloid mode and turned himself while increasing his speed.

"Take this assholes!" He screamed, launching his missiles at them.

The fighters banked to evade, but the tracking systems still nailed two of them. Naruto smirked as he lined up his gun sights, sending a stream of lead at his target, catching the fighter.

"_Your still down by one there Blaze." _Cipher chimed in as he nailed his fourth kill.

Naruto ignored him as he came in on a fourth target and switched back to fighter mode. The Haydonite vessel began to weave around, trying avoid being shot down. But the blonde refused to allow it to escape. The unpredictable pilot shot forward and managed to catch up to it. He quickly shifted back into battloid mode and got a hold on it. He used his thrusters and spun both of them around and hurled the Haydonite pilot back into three of his buddies, catching two with the fighter itself and killing a third with the debris thrown off from the explosion.

"_Damn Blaze. Very nicely done."_ Joker said with a chuckle.

Naruto shook his head and continued to engage targets when the command to move with in fold sphere range came in. Naruto glanced over to see Maia peeling off and heading back toward the SDF-3. The rest of the Hellhounds fell into formation and hurtled to their rally point.

"Easy Flight Leader. You've picked one up on your six." He advised as he moved himself into position.

Naruto heard the tone of lock on and pulled the trigger, watching two missiles streak off and detonate on the fighter. He and the rest of the fighters that had been launched formed a perimeter around the SDF-3, firing weapons at the intruders. He just hoped that whatever Admiral Hunter had planned worked.

Xxxxx

"Fold in sixty seconds. All fighters are within fold perimeter and holding position." The helmsman reported.

Rick clinched the edge of his armrest as he watched another Alpha take a hit and explode. That was six losses for them. The enemy themselves had lost most of their force but according to the readings they were getting, several Haydonite ships had folded in and were moving into range of the SDF-3 and her fighter squadrons. Rick looked over and saw Lisa clutching a small locket. The same one that held a photo of their daughter and Naruto when they had entered the REF Academy. He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to look over at him, slightly startled. Rick gave her a comforting smile.

"She'll be okay. Naruto's out there with her."

Lisa gave a forced smile and returned her gaze back to the main display.

"I know. I still can't help but worry."

Rick nodded his understanding and looked back to the screen as it finished it's countdown.

"Commencing fold. All stations, stand by."

Xxxxx

The Haydonite commander watched with the equivalent of satisfaction as his forces moved in on the human vessel.

"Everything has proceeded as the Awareness has foreseen. Destroy the human vessel."

His attention, however was drawn to one of his subordinates.

"Detecting hyperspace fold."

The commander looked back to the display, in shock that they would try something like this.

"This was not foreseen." He mused as he watched the SDF-3 vanish in a blinding flash of light.

Xxxxx

General Reinhardt looked over his plans on final time before he launched his attack. He sighed and rubbed his temples as he watched the REF ships moving into formation. They were already approaching assault position when several alarms began ringing around the bridge. Reinhardt looked to his sensor officer who had a perplex look on his face.

"What is it?" He demanded.

The young officer tapped a few controls and pulled up his readings on his main display. Reinhardt looked over the readings and was surprised by what he saw.

"Is that…a hyperspace fold?"

The officer nodded and tapped a few more controls.

"Yes sir. But it appears to be severally distorted. Almost as if a powerful gravity field is warping it."

Reinhardt was about to open his mouth when the field stabilized and the SDF-3 appeared between them and Earth. General Reinhardt grinned as he saw his old friends vessel standing ready in front of them. He looked to his com officer and ordered that a channel be opened to the SDF-3. He felt relief wash over him as Admiral Rick Hunter's scared face appeared on screen.

"Well Admiral. You have impeccable timing."

Rick gave him a serious look.

"_General. Stand down and pull back to Moon Base ALUCE."_

Reinhardt was shocked at the order as they watched the SDF-3 turn about and begin moving off on a vector for the base.

"But Admiral. What about Earth?"

"_I'll explain everything at ALUCE, Gunther. That is an order."_

Reinhardt gritted his teeth and nodded. The channel closed as the com officer opened a fleet wide channel.

"All units. Abort attack. Rally at Moon Base ALUCE. That is an order."

Reinhardt order the channel closed and watched as the rest of the REF forces began to withdraw. The SDF-4 spun on her own axis and began to speed back to base as Reinhardt sat in his chair.

"I hope you know what your doing Rick. Millions of lives are at risk."

Xxxxx

Rick finished up his debriefing and looked up at the faces of each of the admirals who had been assembled for this report. They each then slammed him with questions that he answered one at a time. It was four hours before they finally finished up the debrief with some disbelief but a general consensus that he wasn't out of his mind. Rick sighed and headed back to his ship and caught sight of Naruto coming out of the med bay, a slighted look on his face and rubbed his arm. Rick smirked as he got closer to the young man. Naruto caught sight of him and snapped to attention with a crisp salute. Rick returned it and greeted the young pilot.

"Heard you scored eight kills out there. Good job."

Naruto felt his face heat up as he and the Admiral walked back toward the SDF-3.

"Thank you sir."

Rick and Naruto let silence hang between them as they continued down the hall toward the docking bays.

"So…" Rick began. "What's going on with you and Claudia?"

Whatever the Admiral was expecting, it was not the downtrodden look he saw on the man's face.

"Nothing, apparently. She just needed a shoulder to cry on. Can't blame her though. What chance do I have with her?"

Rick knew it was a question that only Naruto could answer for himself. Besides, truth be told, he trusted Naruto a lot more with his daughter than anyone else. He really never trusted that Robert kid anyway. But Rick had to do something to raise his spirits.

"Well…things will work out. In the mean time, I understand that you, Jack, Michel, and Claudia have all been recommended for promotion based on your most recent scores at the Academy. Your four never told me you wanted to be officers."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a grin.

"Yeah, well…Cipher kind of talked all of us into taking the test. The fact that the have selected us is a great honor. I mean, we'd be leading our own flights." He said as he let his hand drop to his side.

Rick nodded, remembering when he had been given his first command of Vermillion squadron.

"That is true, but being in command is a big responsibility. And that reminds me. We'll be departing soon for a top secret mission."

Naruto nodded as they reached the lift to take them to the SDF-3 and both men entered.

"Sounds good sir. I assume we will be trying to forge an alliance with the Invid to combat the Haydonites?"

Rick smirked.

"Your too intelligent for your own good. But…yes. We are. And I need everyone ready for this."

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we will be ready."

The lift doors opened and both men stepped out and head off in their separate directions.

Xxxxx

Lisa looked over at her daughter as they both simply enjoyed a moment of peace.

"So…Claudia. I hear you and Bobby aren't together anymore."

She saw her daughter stiffen slightly and nod her head. Lisa took a sip of her tea and looked back to her daughter.

"How's Naruto?"

She saw Claudia's guilty look and set her tea cup down.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Claudia sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"I think I hurt him this morning. He tried to ask me out, but…I told him that there was nothing between us. But in a nicer way."

"Why did you say that?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know. I…I just don't want to get into a relationship just yet and I didn't want our friendship to be ruined. But…I think it is anyway."

Lisa sighed and rested her chin in her palm.

"I can see how it would be now. You should apologize and explain to him that you just need some time to heal after what Bobby did to you. I'm sure he'd understand."

Claudia silently agreed with her mother and made a mental note to speak with Naruto. Soon. She just didn't know what she was going to say to make it better between them.

Xxxxx

Rick stood on he bridge as they approached Earth. Against the arguments from command, he refused to activate the shadow field or show any signs of hostilities toward the Invid. As the SDF-3 slowed to a stop, he saw the twinkle of Invid ships rising to meet them. He took a steadying breath and tapped the com, opening a general frequency band.

"To the Invid Regess. This is Admiral Richard Hunter. Commander of the SDF-3. I wish to offer a cease fire and a chance for us to speak."

The crew held their breath as they watched the Invid fighters begin to deploy and move into formations so as to prevent the SDF-3 from coming any closer to Earth. Rick spoke again.

"I know of your enemy. The Children of the Shadows. We too, have come under attack by them. They have betrayed us. They want to destroy us too."

Rick kept watching as the Invid sent a scout flight to pass near the SDF-3.

"As your scour can tell you, we have not targeted any of your vessels. We are only here to talk. We will talk on your terms. On Earth or over the com system. What ever you chose. We only want to talk."

They waited as the Invid held their distance. It was sometime before a voice sounded through the speakers, sounding with echoes of the Invid Regess.

"Human. I am the Invid Regess. If what you say is true, what do you expect us to do?"

Rick sighed in relief. It was a start.

"Regess. All we want right now is a chance to talk. A chance at peace. Hate only breeds more hate. And to negate the cycle, we must make the first step to break it."

The com was silent for a moment before the Regess spoke.

"Wise words from such a young species. Very well. We will talk since you have trusted us not to destroy you."

Rick allowed himself a smile as he responded.

"Thank you. If you will send us the coordinates, myself and two others will accompany me."

"There will be no need. I will transport you to me."

Rick was confused as to what she meant until he felt himself pulled away from the SDF-3. He stumbled as he felt himself rush back together. A quick look around showed him that he, Lisa, and Edwards had been transported into what he assumed was the Invid hive. Lisa gave him an amused look.

"Why does this seem so familiar?"

Rick looked in the direction she was and felt a smile tug at his lips.

"Regess. It is an honor to speak with you." He said with a small nod of his head.

The Regess looked over them with a neutral look.

"Do not waste my time human. You have your chance to speak and I will listen."

Rick nodded and got serious.

"Very well. I will cut straight to the point. What do you know about the Haydonites?"

* * *

Hello all. I hope your enjoying the story. And it's just the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, I would like to ask you guys to check out my Robotech vidoes out on you tube. All links are on my profile. And if you can leave a reveiw for them or just drop me a pm on them. Well...look for the next exciting chapter of Naruto: Veritech Fighter!


	7. Chapter 7: Flight of the Fox

Chapter 7 Flight of the Fox

Rick's demand still hung in the air as the Regess' eyes widened slightly in shock. Rick waited calmly for her to answer. And he didn't have to wait long.

"The Haydonites, as you call them, are our oldest enemy. They were the ones who drove us from our home planet long ago. They fear the awesome power of protoculture and are trying to destroy all who embrace it's power. We were the first they attacked."

Rick thought he saw a hint of sadness from the Regess but he couldn't blame her. He waited patently for her to continue.

"When they arrived, they used weapons of mass destruction to destroy out home planet."

"What did these weapons do?" He asked her.

"They created a black hole that swallowed our planet."

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He had hoped that their own test firing conclusion was just from the technology mix, but apparently, it wasn't.

"Regess, what else can you tell us about them?"

"I know only what I have told you. And I sense that you know much of them, seeing as your vehicles posses their technology." She seemed to tower of him even more than she already did, tension rising in the air.

Rick remained where he was.

"We took their help, believing them to be victims of yours. We had no way of knowing that you were their victims. And can you really blame us? You arrive on Earth and begin a conquest of our home planet. We took the help they offered if only to reclaim our home planet."

The Regess paused, seemingly glaring at the human who would speak to her in such a way.

"Human. You forget your place. You are in the presence of the Regess, Ruler of the Invid!" Her voice booming loudly through the hollow hive core.

Rick stumbled back before regaining his composure.

"No. I remember precisely where my place is. It's here. On Earth. You feel we can not co-exists. I believe we can."

"No! Your planet still retains the malignant spirit of the Robotech Masters!"

Rick allowed a small smile to appear.

"True. We are a stubborn group of beings. But it's served us well. Regess. I understand your position on this. But we have a saying. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"

The Regess faltered momentarily in her ranting to appraise him.

"Wise words human. But we will not stand with you. Your species doomed itself the moment you made contact with the Haydonites."

Rick was about to begin arguing his point when a female voice sounded out behind him.

"If you will not listen to the humans, than I pray you'll listen to your own daughter."

Xxxxx

Naruto propped his feet up on a crate in the hanger bay as two men entered the bay, one of them was chuckling while the other looked redder than a tomato. He caught a comment about a little skull and had a feeling as to what had happened. The two men caught sight of him and gave a confused look before moving off to their own. Naruto smirked and went back to relaxing just before a familiar shadow fell over him.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki. I thought I'd find you here."

Naruto looked back to see Maia standing behind him, hands on her hips. On hand he noticed, had a small box. Maia glanced at the box and back at him as he slowly got to his feet.

"Good. Your looking at the box and not me. That puts you exactly one step above the other males on board." She said with a slight smile.

Naruto chuckled.

"I suppose old skull boy over there joined those ranks earlier. Oh, and congratulations on your promotion to Skull Leader."

Maia nodded her thanks.

"Thanks. It's a shame though. Your barely a pilot and already an officer."

"Must have something to do with saving my flight leader's ass."

Maia cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Or maybe you actually earned it and they were waiting on my recommendation."

"Touché. Was there something I can do for you?"

Maia nodded and tossed him the small box. He opened them and smiled as he saw the Lieutenant bars before he looked back at her.

"Okay. Anything else?"

Maia shook her head in amusement.

"It still amuses me that you haven't been busted down for insubordination yet. But yes, there is one other thing. I have recommended you to head Fox flight."

Naruto looked a bit uneasy, something that Maia didn't understand.

"What about the Hellhounds?" He asked.

"Admiral Hayes-Hunter has recommended Lieutenant Hunter to lead the Hellhounds and stay in the Dark Knight squadron. Before you ask, Lieutenant Bartlett is getting Wardog Flight and Cipher is getting Garuda flight."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"What about Joker?"

Naruto saw Maia smile and felt uneasy.

"He's going to be with Cipher. I figured Cipher would balance him out better than pairing him with anyone else."

Naruto relaxed until he looked up and saw two noncoms standing at attention. Naruto sighed and turned his full attention to them. Both seemed extremely nervous.

"At ease guys. I'm Lieutenant Uzumaki, your flight leader. I know most, if not all officers are very experienced, I'm not as experienced. I'm still learning a lot myself. But I do know enough to keep us alive during a dog fight and get us back home alive if you listen to me."

He watched as they seemed uneasy at his statement and looked back to Maia who was trying not to laugh. Naruto glared at her briefly before facing his new wingmen.

"Well, we'll call it a day and meet back up her at eight in the morning."

Both Lance Corporals snapped to attention and gave him a crisp salute that he returned. He and Maia watched as they hurried away before Naruto turned to see her chuckling. She saw his look and it made her snicker even more.

"I'm sorry. It's just funny. Your not supposed to let them know you lack experience in anything."

Naruto huffed in annoyance.

"Yeah, well, I'm an honest guy."

Maia smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Which is why I recommended you for your own flight. Also, your instincts on your test show that you have the greatest potential as a leader."

"That and we need officers to replace the ones we've lost."

Maia gave him a serious look.

"No. You've been in the REF for over a year now. You've been in multiple battles even before your graduation. And you have proven on multiple occasions that you make an excellent leader. Remember the Haydonite patrol we ran across last month?"

Naruto did indeed remember that battle.

(Flashback)

Naruto yanked his throttle back and watched as the Haydonite fighter blew by him. The blonde pressed his trigger, and let loose a hail of lead at him. Naruto smirked as he backed around and watched his flight leader close in on another fighter. Naruto's eyes widened when a stream of purple rounds caught the veritech, reaching it's reactor, creating a small star that vanished in seconds. Naruto gritted his teeth as frantic cries sounded through the com. Naruto tapped his com and opened the flight wide com. Feeling very aware of the eleven other trainees around him, he took a deep breath and issued his commands.

"Baker. Svenson. Go trail and stay close. The three of us will go high and engage the bandits. All other fighters, go low and standby to provide support."

The two pilots moved into position and the three of them pulled up to provide the perfect attack angle on the Haydonite fighters. Naruto knew that reinforcements would arrive as soon as they could, but it wouldn't be soon enough. Besides, Naruto only saw a dozen fighter left anyway. Naruto adjusted his targeting system to visual targeting and increased his throttle as they moved in on the flight of fighters coming at them.

"Don't get over egger. Just do what we always do." He ordered.

The three flew toward the fighters and began weaving as the Haydonites began firing. Naruto gripped his stick tightly and pushed the fear he felt to the back of his mind and gritted his teeth as he got a lock on tone.

"Blaze, fox 2!" He declared as he let twin missiles loose.

His two wingmen followed his example and let their own SRMs followed by a stream of 35mm rounds from their gun pods. They quickly took out six of the Haydonite fighters as they screamed past them. Naruto yanked his stick back and flip over to position himself on the Haydonites six. Baker and Svenson also came around and got into position just after he did. Naruto lined up his sights and pressed his trigger again, watching the fighter explode. He watched another Haydonite explosion from twin SRMs form baker and another from combined 35mm rounds and a well placed missile. They came in on the last three.

"Baker. Svenson. Pull back and escort the rest of the flight back to the SDF-3. I got these three."

To prove his point, Naruto shifted to battloid mode and let loose with over a dozen SRMs launching from multiple hard points on his alpha and speeding off to detonate against the final three fighter. He signed and switched back to fighter mode as Cerberus Flight arrived to pick up the Flight Leaders forward pod. Naruto relaxed slightly as he followed the rest of his flight back home.

(End Flashback)

Naruto nodded his head.

"Yeah. I remember what happened."

Maia smiled at him.

"Trust me kid. You'll do fine. You did great then and you'll do great now. Just calm down." She ordered.

Naruto chuckled and gave her a crisp salute that she returned before heading off to speak with her new squadron. Naruto felt sorry for them. Maia didn't take lip from men under her command. Something he had learned the hard way.

Xxxxx

Rick waited for Arial to finish her tale to her mother of how she had seen a side of humanity that proved they could coexist. Rick had been a little startled to see a human appear in a flash of golden light, only to find out it was a resistance fighter, Lieutenant Scott Bernard. Rick was currently waiting for some response when he saw both Invid look to the top of the hive, shock on their faces. After several moments they looked to each other before looking to Rick. The Regess spoke first.

"Human. I have sensed a vision of the coming destruction. A space station of yours will be destroyed by the Children of the Shadows. They are coming."

"Do you know which station?" He asked.

The Regess nodded.

"I believe you call it Liberty Station."

Rick nodded and turned to the others, intent on getting back to the SDF-3 when the Regess stopped him.

"Human. If you are willing to share your protoculture with our race and allow us to continue to live on this planet, we will stand by you."

Rick looked at her with disbelief.

"That easily? You'd ally yourself with us from one vision?"

The Regess smiled.

"No. Not just because of that. If my daughter is this adamant about your race, than I will listen to her. Also, we have a common enemy. You have shown faith in our race, so we must do the same."

Rick smiled.

"Regess. Thank you. I look forward to working with you and your people."

The Regess nodded her head before smiling again.

"And I too. I sense that the shadow of darkness will fall upon us soon. But together, we will win."

Xxxxx

Rick appeared in a flash of light on his bridge and noticed a new addition. A tall, well built black man was staring at him in shock. Rick grinned at him.

"Don't worry Vince. I'm fine. But we have a station to save."

Vince blinked in confusion.

"What station?"

Not even a moment later, the face of General Reinhardt appeared on screen.

"Admiral Hunter. Deep Space Station Liberty just went dark."

Rick moved to his command chair and sat down as a sudden hush fell over the bridge.

"Understood. We'll head out and proved them with support. Also, I have managed to negotiate an alliance with the Invid. Until I return, no one is to make any move toward Earth."

Reinhardt's eyebrows threatened to disappear into hair.

"You wanna run that by me again?"

"You heard me. Also…I'm sending you a file that I want upload to all ships in the fleet, including the veritech fighters. It will remove a back door code in our shadow tech that would cause us trouble." He told him as he signaled his com officer to send the file to Moon Base ALUCE.

If Reinhardt was confused before, it was nothing to this.

"What kind of back door?"

"One hit from a weapon set to a certain frequency would destroy a ship equipped with shadow technology."

Reinhardt nodded his head in understanding.

"Alright Rick. You'd better hurry. If that's true, the fleet a Liberty could be in serious trouble. Reinhardt out."

The com closed as Rick sighed.

"You have no idea how much trouble."

One minute later, the SDF-3 was off to take the battle to the Haydonites. And the question everyone had on their minds was simple: Would they survive if the Haydonites were fully mobilized to erase them from existence?

Xxxxxx

Naruto leaned against his Alpha fighter when the alert sounded.

"All pilots to your stations. Skull Squadron, prepare for take off. All other flights are at condition alert alpha. Prepare for combat."

Naruto lept to his feet, cursing as he rubbed the top of his head from it impacting on the underside of the Alpha's nose. Naruto hurried to his helmet and secured it before he headed back to his fighter. He noticed both his rookies also headed for their fighters, both looking nervous and scared. The blonde tapped a few commands into his console and opened a channel to his rookies.

"Alright boys. Calm down. I know your both scared, but don't let it distract you. You'll be fine."

Both acknowledged what he had said and look a little better, but not much. Naruto felt his stomach seemed to become weightless before gravity promptly got a hold of it again. They had defolded. And Skull Squadron was launching as quickly as they could. Naruto watched as the handling officers began signaling him and his men for their appropriate take off points. Naruto eased his Alpha into position for the catapult and waited for the deck crews to give him the signal. After what felt like an eternity, they signaled him to take off. Naruto shoved the throttle forward and felt the G-forces press him into his seat as he was hurled out into space. After a moment of feeling calm and relaxed, he check his display and saw his men were already formed up on him. The blonde looked to see that the fleet at Liberty was getting hit hard. Naruto smiled darkly.

"This guys wanted to drop a surprise on our forces, huh? Well…we'll just give them a little surprise of our own. Fox Flight, let's go!"

The three fighters hurtled into the fray, ready to defend their fellow soldiers.


	8. Chapter 8: The Shadow Falls

(A/N: 03/15/2010-At the request of a reviewer, I will be posting weapons systems as they appear, until I post the weapons information. Most likely, it will be a chapter of it's own.)

Chapter 8 The Shadow Falls…

Naruto felt the Gee forces pull at his body. Every muscle was affected. The blonde pushed his fighter to the limits as the alarms blared in his headset. A Haydonite fighter had moved in on his six and was now trying to kill the unpredictable blonde. But Naruto was running out of ideas, and fast. A luck would have it, he heard the commanding voice of Skull Squadron's new CO.

"_Uzumaki. Fake right and then jinx left and throw in the afterburners. I'll take that bastard out for you."_

Naruto smirked.

"No need. Watch this."

Naruto yanked back on the throttle and slammed the control stick to the right and back. His fighter slowed abruptly, throwing him forward, causing his harness to bite uncomfortably into his shoulders. The Haydonite appeared smarter than his brethren and decelerated as well, but not as quickly as Naruto. The veritech pilot switched to guardian mode and let lose his EP-13 80mm particle gun, sending sizzling death at the Haydonite, who apparently did not mix well with the incoming rounds, seeing as he exploded. The VF-6A switched back to fighter mode and sped off to tackle another wave of Haydonite fighters.

Xxxxx

Rick was pissed as he watched another cruiser go up in a brilliant flash of light. They couldn't get the retro code for the shadow tech uploaded to the fleet quickly enough due to their communication channels were being jammed. Short range worked in limited capacity, meaning fighter communication only. He ordered the SDF-3 to move toward the head of the fleet and draw fire from the Haydonites as the rest of the fleet began to rally behind them.

"Snychro cannon lock! Ready to fire!"

Rick grinned darkly.

"Time to use their own guns against them. Fire at will!" He ordered.

The mighty SDF-3 fired her main gun. A lance of blue energy sliced through the darkness, slamming into the lead Haydonite vessel. They watched as it's shields flickered but remained operational. Rick gritted his teeth.

"Damn it. Fire again. Prepare the SLS VMLs. Standby to fire a volley of reflex warheads on impact of the snychro cannons."

The weapons officer began the calculations, quickly acquiring a firing solution.

"Ready!"

"Fire!"

Again, the SDF-3 fired her main gun, the shot slamming into the shields that failed to reform this time. Not even a moment later, the SLS-25 Long Range Anti-Spaceship missiles impacted onto it's hull, blowing massive holes into it's forward structure, damaging it's main guns. Rick nodded in some satisfaction.

"Lock forward PB-45s onto that ship. Fire once you have a firing solution."

The weapons officer smirked as he tapped a few controls, sending twelve spears of energy at the wounded target. Rick watched the particle beams tore through the unshielded hull, finally punching through into it's reactor. A cheer sounded around the bridge as they REF scored it's first kill. Rick let out his held breath before he looked back up at the display.

"We're going to get over run. Their just too damn many of them. Options?"

Edwards glanced from the display to the fighter load out before his eyes widened.

"Of course! The EU-13s! Why didn't we think of them before?"

Rick took a moment to process this before he too felt his eyes widen.

"Edwards! You're a genius!" He turned to the com officer. "Order all squadrons to pound the hell out of the lead ships with their EU-13s."

The officer nodded and quickly sent the order out to each squadron and to each of the pilots. Rick could only hope that this worked.

Xxxxx

Naruto glanced at his com screen and wondered why he seemed to get the suicide missions. He pulled his wingmen up on screen and relayed the orders before Fox Flight kicked it into overdrive and dove toward the nearest Haydonite ship that Naruto took to be a frigate. He switched to guardian mode and fired his disruptors. He watched as the shields flickered just before a beam of energy slammed into the weakened shields, destroying them and punching into the hull. Fox Flight sped out of the area as the frigate took a hit to it's more sensitive innards and imploded. Naruto didn't know how much longer that they could last against the Haydonites, but he swore he'd fight to his dieing breath if need be. He just hoped it didn't come to that.

Xxxxx

Admiral Edwards looked around the bridge as the SDF-3 took another bone shaking hit from the Haydonites. Even with the shadow dimensional field active, they were getting the hell beat out of them. He looked down at the battle display and paused as his eyes swept over Liberty. He pulled up it's scan and discovered something that could save them ad destroy the Haydonites. He only hoped that Rick wouldn't be pissed at him.

Xxxxxx

Naruto dove between a pair of Haydonite capital ships as they fired their main guns. The blonde stuck close to the hull of the lower one and sped off into the center of the Haydonite fleet. He let lose with his disruptors and MRMs, effectively blowing a hole in the shields. The ace pilot moved his fighter inside the protective field and proceeded to move along the hull in fighter mode. He came across a very promising airlock and had no problem with blowing it open. Shifting to battloid, he moved down the corridor as fast as he could. It took him a few moments, but he finally reached the power core. And it was currently occupied. Naruto didn't waste any time as he placed his sights on the oblivious Haydonite and let loose with a deadly stream of particle beam fire, tearing into the Haydonite. The blonde looked around and found a rather important looking conduit and walked over to it. According to his sensors, it was an energy regulator and removing it would be a very bad idea as the amount if raw, unregulated energy into the core would overload it then implode it. But the blonde grinned and used his battloid's hands and found a good purchase before he yanked the regulator out. He knew he hit the jackpot when alarms begin sounding in the compartment. Naruto decided that standing around would be a very bad idea and head back the way he came and managed to find the same airlock he entered as the ship began to creak and shake like some giant toddler was playing with the ship.

Xxxxx

On the SDF-3, Rick watched another Haydonite ship go up from a core implosion and looked to the weapons officer.

"Wasn't the SDF-3. Sensors show a fighter leaving the vessel just before it exploded."

"Who?" Was all he asked.

"VT-10333."

Rick allowed himself a small smile.

"Naruto." He muttered as he prepared to order his forces to retreat.

An alarm caught his attention and he looked around quickly, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Sir! I'm reading a Neutron-S activation…_inside_ the station!"

Rick snapped his head over to Edwards station and saw no one there.

"Damn it! Give me a channel to Edwards! Now!"

The bridge crew rushed furiously to complete their task and sure enough, they were able to open a channel to the missing Admiral. Rick wanted to know just what the hell he was playing at.

"Edwards! What the hel are you doing?"

Edwards gave him a small smile.

"_Ensuring that we kill these bastards. The detonation of our Neutron-S warheads here will create an explosion powerful enough to destroy the Haydonites here. Just like when Admiral Gloval used Dolza's own vessel against him and his fleet."_

Rick rubbed his temples before he returned hid attention back to the display.

"Edwards. Get your ass out of there. We'll pull back to the station to pick you and the station personnel up and then fold out."

Edwards shook his head.

"_Negative. You have to hold them there for a few more minutes. Other wise they'll fold out and the explosion won't catch anything_." He paused and looked over a display next to him. "_And the station crew are already on the _Ark Angel _and will be heading out momentarily_."

Rick frowned at the man.

"This is a dangerous gamble your making Edwards."

He flashed Rick a knowing smile.

"_I know. That's why it'll work. Set fold out for five minutes. Edwards out_."

The screen cut out and was replaced by the scenes of battle. Rick felt old and tired.

"Prepare space fold. Have all fighters move to fold perimeter. Pass that order along to all surviving ships as well. Fold in five minutes."

Xxxxx

Naruto glanced at his screen before opening his com. His wingmen appeared on screen, both looking nervous and scared.

"Alright guys. Your doing great. But now it's time to fall back to fold perimeter. Follow me in but keep your heads on a swivel. Damn Haydonites can appear out of nowhere."

The two young men nodded, still not looking so good as Naruto cut the com. The three fighters of Fox Flight hurtled back to the SDF-3's perimeter while the rest of the fleet began to fold out of system while the SDF-3 continued to provide cover for them, but the fact was, even the SDF-3 wasn't powerful enough to stand up to a whole fleet of cruisers and other combat vessels. Naruto and the rest of the flight moved into position along with the rest of the air group as well. Naruto checked his missile load out and frowned. He was done to twenty SRMs and a dozen MRMs. His screen still showed he had both his LRMs. Naruto activated his weapons systems and locked every thing his had left at the incoming swarms of Haydonite fighters. He waited the tone of lock on fill his head set.

"Nighty night assholes." He muttered as he pressed the trigger.

Dozens of missiles streaked away from his fighter and found their targets perfectly. The rest of his flight let loose their own swarm of missiles, taking even more of the Haydonites out. Naruto transformed into battloid mode and sent a stream of particle shots at them in a stream of sizzling death. He watched a few explode but saw that a lot more were coming in. He didn't like his odds at this point. But something over the com caught his attention.

"_Hellhounds have been obliterated! I'm alone here and need support!"_

Naruto felt his heart stop momentarily before he spun his Alpha around and transforming back into fighter mode before peeling off to find Claudia.

"Fox flight, form up on me!"

Xxxxx

They Haydonite commander watched the battle with muted amusement as the humans tried desperately to fight them off. One of his underlings found something and passed it along.

"Several human ships are retreating."

"Clearly they do not yet comprehend that their entire race is doomed. Our victory here today will mark the rise of a new epic for the Haydonites."

Xxxxx

Naruto and his flight arrived to see Edge trailing smoke with her port engine flamed out. The flight tore into the pursuing attackers, destroying several of them before coming back around to take the rest of them out. Naruto and his flight formed up around the wounded Veritech and escorted it back into the fold perimeter. They just managed to make it before the fold system began to fold the ship away from Deep Space Station Liberty. In a flash of light, the SDF-3 and the _Ark Angel_ disappeared just as the Neutron-S warheads finished their terminal countdown.

Xxxxx

Admiral Edwards smiled as he watched the Neutron-S warhead float momentarily as the countdown continued with fifteen seconds left. The man fished a cigarette out of his pocket and brought it to his lips, lighting it at the same time. A sudden alert caught his attention.

"_Attention. Smoking in non-designated areas is prohibited. Please put out your tobacco or security forces will be notified."_

Edwards smiled at that as he took a deep drag from his cigarette, letting it flow out.

"Go to hell." He muttered as the countdown reached the final ten seconds.

"_Security forces have been summoned. Please remain where you are."_

Edwards shook his head with amusement. He looked up to the display and watched the SDF-3 vanish in flash of light.

"_Detonation in 4...3...2...1..."_

"Good luck, Rick."

A loud roar followed by a bright light was the last thing he saw.

Xxxxx

The Haydonites watched as the humans attempted to fold away. It was almost funny to the Haydonites. At least, until something caught their attention.

"We have neutron weapon detonation."

The Haydonite commander was surprised.

"This was not foreseen. Quickly. Initiate space folding."

But the order came too late. The explosion from the weapons caught the Haydonite ships and destroyed them in a blinding flash of light.

Xxxxx

Naruto waited pertinently outside the infirmary as Doctor Jean Grant worked on Claudia. She had sustained a few minor injuries and a few second degree burns from an exploding console. He stopped his pacing as he watched Admiral Hayes-Hunter entered the hospital and make a bee lone over to him. Naruto had no idea what to expect, but to be pulled into a hug by the legendary Admiral Hayes-Hunter was not on any list he had. He awkwardly patted her back as she sobbed.

"Thank you. Thank you Naruto. You saved my little girl."

Naruto felt embarrassed as she regained her composure and whipped her eyes.

"You welcome. But she's a good friend. And I didn't want to lose her." He almost whispered the last part of the sentence.

Lisa smiled lightly as she noticed his gaze return to the doors to Claudia's room.

"You'd like to be more than friends with her, I take it?"

Naruto thought his head would pop off from how quickly he looked back to the Admiral.

"Wha…? No. I mean…well yes…but…"

Lisa watched with amusement as the young man continued to stutter and turn red and rub the back of his head.

"It's okay. I know what you mean. Also, I wanted to commend you and your flight for a job well done. You're the only flight other than Skull Squadron who have a capital ship kill. That's something to be proud of."

Naruto straightened his stance and smiled.

"Thank you, Admiral."

Admiral Hayes-Hunter nodded her head before handing Naruto a sheet of paper that he accepted with some confusion.

"That is a letter to your CO giving you and your flight the next week off."

Naruto smiled and thanked her as the doors opened and Jean walked out, smiling. Lisa gave her a pleading look that she understood all too well.

"She's fine. Some rest and a few days off and it'll be like she was never here in the first place."

Lisa sighed in relief as Naruto felt like a weight had been lifted from him. He wanted to see her, but felt that her family should be the first in to see her, so he quietly began to head out when Lisa's voice made him stop.

"Where do you think your going, lover boy?"

Naruto turned even redder as he caught the sound of several snickers from nearby personnel.

"I figured it would be better if I let you and Admiral Hunter see her first. After all…isn't it family first?"

Lisa smirked.

"Last I checked…I raised you. That kind of make you family. Now lets go see her."

Xxxxx

Naruto sat against in a chair against the wall and watched as Claudia slept, a peaceful look on her face as she slumbered. He smiled at the sight, but it was quickly extinguished when he heard a familiar voice.

"I'M HER BOYFRIEND! I DESERVE TO BE IN THERE!"

Naruto rose from his seat and took one last glance at Claudia to see her still sleeping peacefully as he exited the room and saw Bobby Redfield, red in the face, baring down on the scared receptionist. The poor girl was close to tears.

"Back off Redfield." He said in a dangerous voice.

Bobby looked over and saw Naruto and snarled at him.

"Back off Uzumaki or you'll meet my fist. Besides…Claudia is mine. She belongs to me." He said arrogantly.

"How do you figure that?" Naruto asked in the same deadly tone, his anger building.

"Please. I'm Bobby Redfield. What I want I get. Besides…what chance does a loser like you have with her?"

Naruto began to slowly make his way over to him.

"You think she's your property?"

Naruto already decided that depending on the answer, Bobby boy might be able to walk to the nearest room. The arrogant prick just grinned.

"Yeah. Got a problem with it?"

Naruto was right in front of him when he shot his fist out and caught the man in the gut. Bobby doubled over, allowing Naruto to knee him in the face. The football player reared back, holding his face as he howled in pain. Bobby caught sight of Naruto and swung at him. The blonde grabbed the fist and spun with the momentum, hurling the taller man through the glass doors. Passerby screamed and a crowd began to form as Naruto stepped through the shattered doors as Bobby stumbled to his feet.

"You want some of Bobby Redfield?! Bring it!"

A split second later, he let out a sharp gasp. Naruto's eyes had become red and had slits like a cat's pupil. The blonde cracked his neck glared at the man as his whisker marks darkened. His hair became shaggy and his canines elongated as did his nails. He stepped into a fighting stance that came to mind with his body low to the ground and the left fist at his hip, the right near his face.

"**Your gonna pay for what you just said. Prepare yourself, 'cause your not walking away from this fight."**

* * *

VFA-6 Veritech:

EP-13 three-barreled 80mm particle gun pod, firing 170 rounds per minute in full automatic mode, also capable of firing all three barrels simultaneously in semiautomatic mode at approximately one shot per second. This weapon fires 8.2 MJ pulses per barrel in each mode, with its own dedicated protoculture cell and capacitor banks in the 'magazine'. This weapon, built into an external shell identical to that of the GU-13, was developed in 2025 by the EF, but didn't see wide use until 2026. By 2031, the EP-13 had almost completely replaced the GU-13 as the main cannon of Alphas in the EF's inventory. The weapon is stored under the wing root in fighter mode, and in the hand in Guardian and Battloid modes.

EU-13 Destabilizer (after 2043), sub-nuclear particle beam gun with output of 36 MJ, can fire up to 30 times/minute. The gun pod draws power from its own dedicated protoculture canister, but can by fired using the plane's own power, and is stored in fighter mode between the upper reserve engine/missile pylons. The particles have a specific, disrupting effect on force fields, and will short out a low power field completely, while high power fields may temporarily and locally cease to function.

SDF-3 Pioneer/REF Capital Ships:

PB-45 Particle Beam Cannon Turrets: This twin-cannon turret is designed to attack large spaceships. Each turret can rotate 360 degrees and has an arc of fire of 180 degrees. Four turrets are mounted on the top of each of the forward booms, two turets are mounted on the bottom of each of the forward booms, and the other four are mounted in the ship's engine section.

SLS-25 Vertical Missile Launchers: This system replaces the Pepperbox launchers used on old RDF ship designs. This new system consists of two rows of five launch tubes for each missile launcher, this allows for an even higher rate of fire. Four launchers are located near the engines, four amidships, four are in the bow, and the final two launchers are located near the bridge.

SRS-2 Heavy Missile Launchers: A ramp type launch system was designed for the new cruise missiles used by the REF. While these launchers held significantly less rockets, they retained the fast rate of fire that the older designs used on the ARMD cruisers had. Six launchers are located in each of the two forward booms.

More will follow as the story continues.


	9. Chapter 9: Boys and thier Toys

Chapter 9 Boys and their Toys

Naruto looked over at Bobby as the man suddenly keeled over making Naruto stop his advance. The blonde cocked his head to the side in confusion as a man in the gathered crowd check him for a pulse. The man rose to his feet, shaking his head.

"He passed out. Looks like one of your hits did some damage." He said as a few members of the crowd picked up the unconscious man and began dragging him into the hospital.

Naruto watched as Bobby was dragged past him and took some satisfaction that the little bastard had wet himself in fear. In his head, he could hear maniacal laughter and tried not to laugh with the voice. Naruto turned and was about to go back inside when his com went off. Curious, he activated it.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki."

The voice that came back was one full of barely contained glee.

"_Hey, Naruto. Wanna test out a new toy?"_

The blonde ace allowed a small smile to appear.

"Yes Admiral. Where are you at?"

The reply was almost instantaneous.

"_Hanger bay 16."_

Xxxxx

Rick could barely contain his excitement as he eyed the newest toy in the SDF-3's inventory. It was an very ingenious design. The best way to describe it would be basically a hover bike on steroids. It had three primary engines with two large boosters to help this thing gain distance on it target, or to outrun a larger opponent. It featured an open cockpit design much like the old Spartas Hover tanks the Army of the Southern Cross used. The forward portion of the vehicle was basically built around the main cannon of the vehicle. It was the most powerful snychro cannon for it's size. Rick was pretty sure that if a Haydonite ship was swarmed by these, it would go up in no time. It also contained two EP-13 80mm particle cannons on a ball turret providing the pilot with 360 fire from them. Add 12 MITV missile pods and you have some serious firepower. Rick couldn't help but shiver at the sheer amount of firepower it was packing for something it's size. He turned around when he heard a slight gasp and grinned at Naruto.

"Say hello to the Variable Interceptor. VI-1 for short."

Naruto looked over the VI-1 with interest.

"What's she designed for?" He asked.

Rick grinned even wider.

"These babies are meant for close combat operations. Much like the cyclones, but these are designed from the ground up to be boarders. They pack a hell of a payload to breech a ship and their small size in battloid along with the high speeds they have in that mode, make them perfect." Rick finished.

Naruto could swear he saw little hearts in the admirals eyes as he finished. The blonde said nothing and instead walked near the VI-1 and looked over it again, this time taking in the little detail.

"Does it need a special armor for the user like the cyclones?"

Rick shook his head.

"Your standard…bright orange…jumpsuit is fine."

Naruto snorted at the comment. As if the Admiral had any room to talk about orange jumpsuits. Instead, he turned to the Admiral with a very wide grin.

"When do we take them out?"

Xxxxx

Claudia woke a few hours after Naruto left and felt very dazed. The last thing she remembered was Naruto practically carrying her in on her final approach. After that, things got fuzzy. She slowly rose to a sitting position and looked around her room, immediately seeing several vases full of flowers of every color. She smiled as she saw a card with Bobby's tidy scrawl on it. She thought it was a nice gesture, but would change nothing between them. She swept her gaze toward her door and had to do a double take. She picked up a single flower on her bedside table with a familiar untidy lettering. She knew who it was from and smiled as she read the message.

"_I know I can be stubborn and ignorant at times, but I do know that you're my friend and I truly do care about you. I know we can't be more with Bobby in the picture, but if you ever want to talk, you know where to find me."_

"_Your friend, The Walking Bull's Eye."_

Claudia giggled at his nickname. It was something that had stuck when she had seen his flight suit for the first time. The flower was a lily. She smiled. Of course that knuckled headed blonde would remember her favorite flower.

Xxxxx

Naruto eased his throttle forward as he and the Admiral raced through the asteroid belt near Mars. He had to admit, the VI-1 handled very well. But if he wasn't careful, he had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn't watch it, he'd be plastered onto and asteroid. He glanced over to the Admiral. The man was having the time of his life they hurtled by rocks the size of SUVs and other things. Naruto, however, wanted to test out the VI-1 more than just looping around rocks. He scanned the display before he found a touch screen that controlled the Boosters modes and tapped the B. The next thing he knew, he felt his body incased in armor with a HUD now displayed in front of him on his visor. He looked over to see that the Admiral had also switched into Battloid mode, allowing Naruto a chance to see what they looked like. The wings that held the MITV missiles were attached to the back near where his shoulders would be, with the wings parallel to the back. The arms eached held a turret on the topside of them, locked into a forward position. The engines had reconfigured themselves against the back as well with the rest of the vehicle forming around the user complete with a Cyclops helmet. All in all, Naruto estimated that they were about the same size as Hover tank in battloid mode. Though he did love the fact that the snychro cannon was positioned over the left shoulder for easy targeting and use. Naruto grinned as he and the Admiral put on a spurt of speed, both heading for the SDF-3. They agreed to test the weapons systems some other time. The pair landed their VI-1s with a precision only an ace pilot could muster. What shocked both of them was seeing both Claudia and Lisa waiting for them. The two men looked at each other.

"What did you do this time?" They asked at the same time.

The girls giggled as they approached, leaving both men to wonder what was going on. Claudia decided to ease their minds.

"Doctor Grant released me about an hour ago, but I'm on light duty for the next three days."

Naruto smiled, showing that he was happy to hear she would be okay. Lisa, however, looked past both of them at their new mecha before giving both of them an amused look.

"I see you two had fun testing out our new weapons platform. Any suggestions?" She asked.

Both of them shook their heads leaving her to smirk. She knew that they didn't want to deal with the paper work for getting the mecha set to their personal preference. Claudia gave Naruto a small smile.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Naruto?" She asked calmly.

The blonde looked over at Rick to see him trying not to laugh at the young man.

"Go ahead. I won't terrorize you. Promise."

Naruto gave him a skeptical look as the man just grinned at him. The blonde shook it off and returned her smile.

"Sure. What about?" He asked.

Claudia shook her head in amusement.

"It's a private matter that I want to discuss with you. It'll only be a little while then you to man-children can go back to playing with your new toys."

"Hey!" They said with indignation.

Lisa and Claudia began to laugh at both of them as they pouted at the jibe against their maturity. Claudia grabbed Naruto by the arm and pulled him off to the side, leaving the parents to stand by the VI. Lisa leaned over to Rick, with an impish grin on her face.

"Watch this. I think we're finally going to get those two together."

Rick nearly laughed at this point.

"All these years of trying to play match maker and he seals the deal with a lily. He's just lucky I trust her with him completely."

Lisa gave him a stern look.

"That and you know that if you tried to prevent this, I'd have my revenge."

Rick looked nervous as he tried to avoid Lisa's vengeful side.

"You know. Your scary when you do that."

With Naruto, the blonde was currently being dragged off to the side by a rather happy Claudia. After what seemed like being dragged across the whole service hanger, they stopped. Claudia turned and faced him with a brilliant smile.

"I want to say thank you for what you did early."

Naruto knew what she was talking about and blinked in mild surprise.

"Um…your welcome."

She continued to give him that same brilliant smile that made his stomach do loops.

"I heard what Bobby said and he deserved what happened to him."

"Well…no woman should be treated like some one's property."

Claudia took a step toward him, making him aware of exactly how close they were to begin with.

"You know, I'm glad to hear you say that. Another thing I've noticed is that you have all the traits of the perfect guy." She said softly, still moving closer.

Naruto began to step backwards.

"H-How so?"

She smiled sweetly at him.

"Your kind, caring, and you always try to make me feel happy."

Naruto stepped back again as she continued forward.

"That's what friends do." He had no idea why he was trying to counter her logic, but right now, nothing made sense to him.

"True. But your also compassionate. You beat Bobby to a pulp because of what he did. You've always treated me right. Like I was…a princess." She seemed to have to search for the right word. 'And don't bother taking another step back." She said with a smirk.

"Huh?"

Next thing he felt was a post against his back and cursed internally. Claudia was now face to face with him, speaking so low only he could hear.

"I want to be with you. You're the only one who I know won't hurt me. Who'll be there when I need them. Some one who I can have a good time with. And some one I can take care of and be there when they need me. You're the perfect guy."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but found his mouth blocked. By Claudia's. His mind froze as he processed what had just happened. It took a split second for his mind to reboot before he returned the kiss with both of them pulling away, smiling at each other with a light blush dusting their cheeks. A sudden roar of applause and wolf whistles reached their ears making both of them turn to look at the audience that had been watching the speticle, including Naruto's subordinates who were grining like madmen. The blonde fighter put on his best officer face as he pulled away from Claudia.

"Alright. Show's over. Back to work!" He ordered.

Several of them lauged as they went back to their assigned duties. Others smirked and headed on their way leaving Rick and Lisa to walk over to the pair. Rick had to put on his best Dad face as he looked Naruto in the eye and uttered one simple phrase.

"Hurt my little girl and you die."

Naruto nodded so fast he thought his head would pop off. Rick smiled and clapped his shoulder.

"Alright. Now. Why don't you two spend some time out on your own tonight. Just…be smart about what you do. Lord knows I'm to young to be Grandpa Hunter."

Both Naruto and Claudia blushed furiously as Rick laughed while Lisa slapped his shoulder, scolding the man as he tried to answer his com.

"Admiral Hunter here."

A voice came back over the com, a hint of anticipation in the voice.

"_Sir. We have the location of a Haydonite Attack Fleet."_

Rick's grin darkened. Good. They'd be able to return the beating the REF had gotten at Liberty Station. And now that their little back door had been negated, he would be happy to make them pay double for their betrayal.

"Good. We're going to see how well they fight when they can't cheat. Where are they?"

Their was a very pregnant pause while the operator looked up the coordinates. When his voice returned, it was one of shook and pity.

"_Sir. The Haydonite fleet…it's located at…Lieutenant Uzumaki's home world."_

* * *

MITV Missile Pod: Stands for **M**ultiple **I**ndepenant **T**racking **V**ehicle. Each pod contains 12 SRMs giving the VI-1 type Mecha an additional 144 SRM missiles ontop of it's standard missile loadout.

VI-1: Mecha designed for Boarding operations. Uses the Distrupt/Overwhelm/Adapt stratagey. Standard Armamant is 1 XLRM Anti-Space Ship, 1 MRM Launcher (4 XMRMs), 12 SRMs (Forward points), 12 MITV Missile Pods, 2 EP-13 80mm particle cannon on ball turret, 1 MKIII VF Snychro cannon (1 Shot per two minutes (Has own protoculture cell for power))


	10. Chapter 10: New Player

Chapter 10 New Player

Naruto looked at Rick as the Admiral seemed to be frozen from the news. No one within ear shot even knew what to say. Claudia tried her best to comfort Naruto as she intertwined her fingers with his, giving his hand a light squeeze that he returned.

"Say that again?" Rick queried his com unit.

"_Yes sir. Sensor 13 Alpha just went dark. Last reading from it painted the known silhouette of the new Haydonite ships moving in system. We estimate they'll be at the planet with in a matter of hours." _The voice reported.

Rick glanced at Naruto to see the hard look on his face.

"Stand by." Rick ordered as he made eye contact with Naruto.

The blonde didn't know what to say or how to ask that they go defend his home world. Despite the treatment he had received, he still had a few precious people on that world. The old man for one. The ramen stand owners. And the two friends he had managed to make before he left, an Aburame named Shino and a shy Hyuuga girl named Hinata. Both of whom had parents that encouraged them to play with Naruto rather than shun him as everyone else did. Naruto tried hard to swallow the lump in his throat and his mouth felt very dry as he tried to speak.

"Sir…" He began but was cut off by Rick holding up a hand.

"Hang on Naruto. I have a theory that I need confirmed." He said as he opened his com back to the bridge. "This is Admiral Hunter. Open a channel to the Regess."

"_Yes sir."_

A moment of silence before the Regess' voice came back on the com.

"_Yes Human?"_

Rick frowned but knew it was her habit of calling them by their species and not by their own individual names.

"Regess. How do the Haydonites know who use Protoculture? I'm sure that they don't meet everyone who has it."

The com was silent for a split second before her answer.

"_The Haydonites posses technology that allow them to track the specific energy readings of Protoculture. We do not know where this technology came from or how they have it. But it is how they discovered our race."_

Rick felt his stomach squirm at the thought that the Haydonites were tracking them.

"Regess. There is a planet that one of my crew is from. On it are life forms that produce Protoculture in their bodies. That is the planet that the Haydonites are attacking."

Rick could almost hear the anger in her voice.

"_The Children of the Shadow have gone to far! They would attack a nursery world!"_

Rick blinked in surprise as the other three seemed to be just as confused.

"'Nursery world?' What is that?"

The Regess hesitated before she spoke.

"_It is a world that we once inhabited millennia ago before we were forced to abandon it. We were once like you. But over time, we began to evolve after generations of exposure to protoculture. At one point, we began to gain the ability to harness the power of protoculture inside our very being. The world you speak of is a nursery world of our race. It was meant as a away for our race to remain even if the Haydonites tried to exterminate us."_

If anything could shock them, this was defiantly on that list. Rick didn't even know what to say, but Naruto did.

"Are you saying…that…I'm Invid?" He asked in a shaky voice.

The voice that answered was full of surprise at the new voice.

"_Yes child. You and your people come from our ancestors that were placed in cryo stasis when our war with the Haydonites had began as a means to make sure our race would not be extinguished like a candle flame."_

Naruto looked up at Rick as the older man simply remained neutral as he returned to the conversation.

"Regess. Thank you for the information. We'll head out and see what we can do to protect the planet."

"_Human. I will be sending some of my children to help you. With our combined forces, the Children of the Shadow will remember this day as the day they were utterly defeated by those they would destroy."_

The com went silent leaving the group to simply stand still as they processed the information they were given. Rick seemed to process the fastest as he activated his com for the third time.

"Bridge. I want all personnel ready for combat. Also, get Reinhardt on the horn. And tell the fighter crews on ALUCE to meet up with us ASAP."

The reply was almost unheard as Rick turned the com off and strode to the elevator before he looked back over his shoulder at the trio still standing rooted to the spot.

"You guys gonna stand there or are you going to get ready?"

Naruto smiled grimly as he nodded and followed Claudia to the hanger bays as Lisa hurried over to Rick, a grim look on her face.

"This is it, isn't it? We finally going after them?" She asked after a momentary pause.

Rick nodded his head.

"Yes. War seems to be always on the horizon. This time though, it'll be on our terms."

Xxxxxx

Reinhardt looked at the assembled fleet with awe as the REF fleet and the Invid Carriers assembled at their assigned rally point. Reinhardt didn't know what was more worrying. The fact that half of the REF forces would be folding into battle with the Haydonites, or the fact that the Invid seemed almost eager to butt heads with their old foe. He simply filed those thoughts away as the REF ships kept close enough so that they would be carrying the Invid carriers inside their fold spheres. Gunther sighed and turned back to his desk. He would be here with the SDF-4 to keep Earth safe. He wished Rick luck as the Allied fleet began to vanish into the darkness of space.

Xxxxxx

The Haydonite commander looked at the world in his display in disgust. It reeked of Protoculture. He could almost taste it's foul power form here. Had he been organic, it probably would have made him sick to his stomach. But that was a moot point as his fleet moved in on the planet cautiously. There had been no challenged issued to them as they approached. No mecha racing out to meet them. Nothing. It was almost as if the planet had been abandoned. And it unsettled him. Their should have been some sign og response form at least the Humans. They had destroyed one of their sensor buoys they had left here.

"Any sign of the humans?"

The three others in the command center with him simply shook it's head as they continued to scan.

"This is unsettling. Why have they not responded to our presence? The Awareness foresaw this as a battle of great proportions."

The Haydonites around the center began to feel unsettled as well. The readings from the planet showed that there should have been a massive fleet waiting for them. But again…nothing. The Commander seemed to think through a few scenarios before passing on his own orders.

"Inform the fleet to move into bombardment position. Have them hold their fire for now."

The Haydonite fleet slowly made it's way to the planet, surrounding it. The Commander waited. Still no response. But the planet was giving off life signs. This was confusing him as logically, if the humans had been here, then the people on the planet would have some defense. Archaic Nuclear weapons, Reflex missiles, Snychro Cannons, something. It made no sense to him. But he still had his orders.

"Began bombardment."

Xxxxxx

Rick stood on his bridge as the continued toward the Invid nursery world. He still had trouble accepting the fact that Naruto was an Invid. Not that he had anything against them Hell, Ariel and her sister, Sera, had been a major help to the REF. It was just that this would eventually draw in the other Sentinel races as well. He could picture the history books now, describing the Sentinel Wars. He chuckled at that thought as his helmsman began her countdown to defold. Rick moved back to his chair and tapped his com.

"All squadrons, prepare to launch. Once your clear, you have weapons release clearance. Blow those bastards out of the sky." He ordered.

Several decks down, the pilots and their ground crews cheered at his words and rushed to their planes. Naruto and his two wingman hurried to their own Alpha fighters as alarms began to ringing as the ship began to defold. Naruto paused and looked at the emblem on the side of his fuselage. A fox baring it's canines over a back drop of Earth. The blonde snapped out of his momentary lapse and climbed into his cockpit. After his preflight checks were done, he expertly moved his Veritech into position as the SDF-3 folded into real space. Naruto felt the gee forces hit him as he shoved his throttle forward, rocketing out into space. What he saw made him freeze. His home world was being bombed. Hot anger filled his being as he slammed his throttle forward.

The blonde wanted to kill them. To kill at the Haydonites as he eased his throttle back, allowing his wingmen to catch up. He sight on a large Haydonite vessel, most likely a cruiser, possibly the command ship. He tapped his com panel.

"Lock your anti ship missiles onto the target I'm sending you. Fire when I give the order."

They sent their acknowledgements to him as he locked his missiles onto the ship.

"FIRE!" He screamed as he triggered their launch.

Six missiles knifed through the blackness of space a slammed into the large ship, exploding harmlessly against the shields. Naruto nimbly moved his fighter out of the way of incoming fire from the Haydonites. He looked back and his eyes widened at what he saw. Each of the Invid Carriers had launched all their Scout Fighters, 450 mecha per carrier. He counted at least a dozen of their carriers and was in awe at the realization of how many ships they had against the Haydonites. His awe was shattered as one of the Carriers went up from a Snychro Cannon shot that slammed into it amid ship. Naruto snapped his gaze forward and shoved his throttle forward, screaming as the Allied Fighters closed on the Haydonite fighters.

Fighters exploded in space as the pilots continued their deadly dance, cannons flashing and missiles streaking through the inky blackness, searching for targets. It would indeed be a day to remember.

Xxxxx

Rick watched as the Haydonite ships began to move away from the planet. He nodded his head in understanding. With the gravity well their, the Haydonites were literally fighting with their backs against the wall. But it would make little difference. As he watched several of his fighters speed off toward the enemy fleet and the incoming fighters. He watched the silent explosions and knew that some of his men would not be coming back. But now was not the time. He had his fleet move further insystem, missiles and snychro cannons speeding through the darkness, impacting into enemy vessels. The onslaught was intense, but the Haydonites threw it right back at the REF and their allies. Several Invid carriers went up as the snychro cannon shots blew holes through them as if they were wet card board. He grimaced as his own forces began to take hits as well. Four Garfish Light Cruisers were lost from the onslaught. Even if the shadow tech was now back door free, the sheer amount of incoming fire would still be deadly. Rick gripped his command chair before he rose from his seat.

"Order Lieutenant Uzumaki to return to the ship and to meet me in hanger bay 16. Also have Lieutenant Commander Bernard meet me there as well."

"Yes sir."

Xxxxx

Naruto wanted to tell the Admiral he was crazy. But he had a feeling he'd been called that before. He glanced over at Commander Bernard who was wearing the same look on his face. It made him feel better because he wasn't the only one. Behind him, he could almost hear Cipher questioning the Admiral's sanity and Lieutenant Rush seemed to be in something akin to shock at having been hand picked for this mission. Rick seemed oblivious to their questioning looks as he briefed them on their mission.

"Our goal is simple. The Command Cruiser is interlinked to all the other Haydonite vessels in the fleet. If we can take it out, then we can disorient the Haydonites."

Lieutenant Rush was the first to ask a question.

"If that's the case, sir, then why don't we just destroy it with the fleets main guns?"

Surprisingly, Cipher was the first to respond.

"Because it has too many escorts. Every time one is destroyed, two more take it's place. And if we were to concentrate all our fire onto it, that would leave the fleet open to a counter attack by the Haydonites and we would lose a lot of ships from the return fire."

Rick smiled.

"That and they have data we need. If we can get it, then we can cloak our ships from their scanners. Other wise, they'll always know where we are."

Marcus didn't look to excited about the plan, but nodded his head in understanding of the plan. Rick took a look over his squad and grinned.

"Let's ride."

Xxxxxx

Meanwhile, Lisa was busy directing the fleet as they continued to lose more and more ships. Casualties so far had been twelve light cruisers, 2 Ikazuchi Carriers and almost all of the twenty-four Invid Carriers. All in all, it wasn't looking good for the REF. On the up side, they had inflicted heavy casualties to the Haydonites. At least half of their fleet was dead in space or destroyed. The Admiral watched as another Haydonite ship went up in a bright ball of light as the Traffic Controller caught her attention.

"Ma'am. Admiral Hunter's squad has just taken off and are moving to intercept the Haydonite Command ship."

Lisa nodded and turned away so no one would see her send out a silent prayer for her husband. She turned back to the battle and glared at the opposing fleet.

"Now…It's time to show them just what we can do. Open a channel."

The com officer tapped a few controls before nodding in satisfaction.

"Channel open."

"This is Fleet Admiral Hayes-Hunter. Close and engage. Pick your targets and go. You are all weapons free."

She could almost feel the smiles on all the captains faces as they ordered their crews to head for their nearest target. She herself couldn't help but smirk as well. It was time to call in the rest of their attack forces.

"Order the second combat wave in. Lets show these Haydonite Bastards how we do things on Earth."

The order had barely left her mouth before the space behind the Haydonites began to fill with additional REF and Invid vessels. Lisa smirked. Everything had gone according to plan, and thanks to the Haydonites, they now knew which ship was their command ship. And the time for playing the weaklings was over. Now, they were allowed to actually fight the Haydonites at full strength instead of holding back. She was brought out of her musings by the com officer.

"Ma'am. The second combat wave is in position and are awaiting further orders."

She smiled evilly.

"Tell them…they are a go for Operation Typhoon."

* * *

I discovered somthing that is a bit creepy a few days ago. When I had began this story, I had the idea of the variable interceptor in my head when I began the outline for this back in January. I had not used anything to design it becuase I wanted to have somthing in their mecha pool thta was a step up form the cyclones and the hovertank, but yet not as powerful as the Veritech Fighters. What is creepy is that I was recently watching Halo: Legends and the EV92/Open Booster Frames look very similar to what I wanted the VIs to look like. It was rather creepy. The only thing that shares any name with was the MITV12. So, Mircosoft and Bungie own their own designs and the weapons. So if you want a general idea of what the VIs look like, look up "Booster Frame" on google and try to picture it with a more robotech feel, or the description I gave in the last chapter.


	11. Chapter 11: Time Catches Up

Chapter 11 Time Catches Up

Naruto yanked his VI to the right and mashed the tiger for his particle cannons and sent a stream of energy at a Haydonite fighter that was trying to smear Joker against the hull of the Command ship. Every since the _Icarus _and the rest of the attack fleet arrived, the tables had turned on the Haydonites. REF and Invid forces were beginning to gain the upper hand over the Haydonites and Naruto could almost feel the high morale as enemy ship after enemy ship fell under their combined onslaught. The blonde pilot couldn't help but grin as the rest of Admiral Hunters squad finally managed to break through the fighter and defense screens around the massive ship in front of them. He took a more grim look as they approached their target. The five of them hurtled forward as the pulse turrets that were the Haydonites point defense systems began to return fire. Naruto rolled himself over to avoid a blast from their defenses.

"_Alright! Throttles to max! Stay tight and prepare snychro cannons!"_

Naruto taped a few controls and suddenly realized that they hadn't even done a weapons test on these yet. He shook that thought out of his mind and concentrated on closing on the Haydonite ship. The VI pilots weaved and dodged incoming fire, undaunted by the sheer volume of it. Each of them knew they could die, but death in combat was the most honorable death a warrior could ask for. The fire intensified as they approached. The Haydonites now seemed to understand at least part of their plan. Naruto had to smirk as he avoided another blast.

"_Snychro charge at 92%. Lock onto the target. Selection Beta. Prepare all MITVs."_

Naruto did as he was ordered and was somewhat surprised to see his reticule snap a lock on immediately. He zoomed his display in and saw that it was a heavily armored. Naruto glanced to his left to see the Admiral's own VI rippling with energy form the cannon. A small beep caught Naruto's attention, telling him that he was at full charge. He grinned darkly as he pulled the trigger and sent the energy beam knifing through space, joined by the rest of the squads.

"_Missiles away!"_

Sixty MITVs raced out through space, their protective casing bursting open, expelling the dozen ASRMs creating a cloud of seven hundred and twenty independent warheads, each carrying a reflex charge. The missiles slammed into the hull after the snychro cannons downed the shields and blew through the armor creating a nice sized hole. Naruto shifted into Battloid mode and landed inside the enemy ship. They were greeted immediately by incoming laser fire from the Haydonites. Naruto popped out from his cover and sent a burst of energy rounds across the bay at the counter boarders. He got one as more of the large mecha stomped into what appeared to be a holding bay of some kind. Naruto watched as Rick leapt out of cover and fire off a pair of SRMs before sending a stream of 80 mm particle rounds at the mecha. The blonde gathered himself together and moved foreword as well, dropping to one knee and adding his own 80mm fire to the Admiral's. The rest of the squad arrived just as the last of the counter boarders fell with multiple smoking holes in it's body. The two men looked back to the three others.

"Where were you guys?" Rick asked.

"We had trouble figuring out how to fly them. Some one forgot to include a manual." Joker responded.

Naruto chuckled in embarrassment as Rick turned to him.

"Sorry. We didn't get the chance to train anyone other than the two of us, sir."

Rick smiled and turned to the nearest door.

"You guys think you can keep up?" He asked as he moved toward the hatch, his VI's metal boots thudding against the deck.

The others nodded over the com channel as Rick put his mecha's hand through the control surface, shorting it out and making the door open. Rick grinned and looked back at them.

"Well what are you waiting for? We've got a job to do."

Xxxxxx

"Commander. Four humans and an Invid have been detected onboard."

The Haydonite Commander was mildly surprised at the report.

"Seal of the section. They are of no consequence."

"We beg to differ."

The Commander wheeled around as did every other Haydonite on the bridge. In the doorway stood their five intruders. One of which was pulling his hand out of the back of his sensor officer. He didn't know it, but outside, the Haydonite fire became less accurate with shots that were near perfect became widely inaccurate. The Haydonites on the bridge rose up and soared toward the intruders.

"You will die here, Protoculture Addicts. All who embrace it's power will be destroyed!"

Naruto raised his EP-13 and let the energy fly into the cloaked Haydonite. The rest of the REF forces did the same and watched each of the three remaining Haydonites fall under the combined fire power. Rick opened a channel to the squad.

"We've got one minute before the fleet resets and the individual commanders take local control of their own forces. Cipher. Find that data!"

The genius pilot began to wirelessly hack into the Haydonite computer banks, hunting for the information. Naruto himself was looking over the screens and his eyes widened before he turned and rushed out of the control center. He could hear the others calling after him but he ignored it as he had a destination in mind and he need to get their before it was too late. The blonde came around the final corner and immutably blew the Haydonite in the room away as it raised it's front leg and crushing the people on the ground in front of it. Naruto moved foreword and saw mostly scared children in the room and no adults. The three children in front of him gave him a terrified look. He opened the top half of his mecha and dropped down in front of the children, pulling his helmet off and offering them a kind smile.

"It's okay. My name's Naruto. Your going to be okay."

The children looked up at him with wide eyes before he activated his com.

"Admiral. This is Lieutenant Uzumaki. I've found three children here."

He could hear Rick curse before he returned to the com.

"_In the forward cargo bin on your VI holds four additional pressure suits. Get them in those and stand by. Unless you can fit them inside the mecha."_

Naruto looked back to the Interceptor to the children before sighing.

"I can get them out. But I'll need cover once we leave this thing because I'll be in Interceptor mode."

There was a pause before Rick returned.

"_Understood. We'll wait at our breach. You've got two minutes before the charges go."_

Naruto sent his reply and hurried over to his Interceptor, tapping the command to turn it into it's interceptor form before he grabbed the pressure suits and facing the children. They looked at him with scared looks on their faces and he knew he had to work quickly.

"It's okay. I'm gonna get you out of here, but I need to get you each in one of these. Trust me, please."

The children nodded as Naruto hurried over to them, pulling the suits out of the bag and noticing that they would be very large on the children, but that couldn't be helped. He managed to get the little brunette girl into her's and found the scene of this young child in a pressure suit way too large for her somewhat funny. The blonde checked the seals and the oxygen supply and was satisfied that they were green. He checked his watch and began to sweat. He had about a minute to finish. He turned to the others and was surprised to see that one of them was already dressed as well. He glanced at the third girl as she gave him the same scared look as the others. Naruto quickly checked the blonde girls systems and was also relieved to see it was green as well. He hurried as he put the final dark haired girl in her's and had just finished checking it over when the first explosion rocked the ship. His com began beeping frantically.

"_Uzumaki! Get your ass off this ship, now! The rest of the Haydonites are trying to scuttle it!"_

"On my way now, sir!"

Naruto snapped his com off and moved to his interceptor. In this mode, he was relieved to see a second seat and he was able to pile all of them into the back seat, securing them with the same belt before he secured himself into it. He powered up his engines and yelled a warning back to them as he secured his own helmet before he punched the throttle. The ride was harrowing and it didn't help that he had three wailing, screaming girls right behind him, terrified as he weaved around corners and ducked under falling debris. He reached the bay they had came in.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He roared as he shot out the hole.

The others didn't need to be told twice and followed him as the all engaged their boosters and the gee forces grabbed at their bodies. Naruto grunted as he twisted his VI to the right to avoid a piece of wreckage that soared past them. Naruto looks back to see the Haydonite fleet utterly destroyed as the REF and it's Allies pound the hell out of them. Naruto gave a loud cheer as did everyone in the fleet as the last Haydonite ship went up in a stunning explosion. Naruto glanced back to the girls to see them huddled together, all three sobbing in fear still. Naruto could have smacked himself and did his best to hurry back to the ship.

Xxxxxx

Claudia was very frustrated. She had been hunting for Naruto after his debrief, but she couldn't find the blonde. It was very frustrating. She decided to take a walk down the main section which held the stores and other such things need for the civilian population that decided to remain on board. It was at an outdoor ice cream shop that she came across an adorable sight. Naruto was walking down the street in his uniform with a little girl on his shoulders and one on each side, all three holding an ice cream cone. The older girl giggled at the sighed and decided to do a little investigating. She saw Naruto go cross eyed as a bit of ice cream landed on his nose. Claudia helped him out by wiping the ice cream off his nose for him. He gave her his signature smile.

"Thanks. I'd have done it myself, but my hands are kinda full."

Claudia smiled but gave him a questioning look that he understood once he saw her glance at each of the girls.

"I'll explain at the park. I promise."

She accepted this and fell in beside Naruto and the pair talked about random things until they reached the destination. Naruto collected their napkins for the ice creams that were now gone and told them to have fun, pointing at the playground equipment. The girls hesitated before they headed off to the swings. Naruto himself threw the napkins away and plopped down on the bench, shortly followed by Claudia. She gave him a sweet smile.

"I believe you were going to explain?"

Naruto sighed and nodded his head, causing her to lose her smile.

"Their my responsibility now."

Claudia felt her eyes widen.

"I think you'd better start from the beginning."

Naruto nodded and launched into his story…

(Flashback)

Naruto faced the brass as he began his debrief. They only wanted to hear his side of what happened inside the cruiser.

"We managed to board the Haydonite Cruiser and made it to the Command Center. Once we arrived, we secured the bridge and got the data we were sent to get. In the process, I saw three children running down a corridor, being chased by one of the Haydonites' mecha. I left the bridge and headed off to save them from the mecha. After that, we left the ship and came back to the SDF-3."

The men nodded, accepting his explanation as Admiral Hunter rose from his seat.

"Lieutenant. I think I should be the one to inform you that…" Rick paused as he saw Naruto lower his head.

"I know. Everyone down there is dead."

Rick nodded and sat back down as Jean entered the room, looking extremely worried as she handed Rick a paper. The Admiral accepted it and dismissed the doctor. Naruto watched as he looked over the paper, his gaze hardening before he faced Naruto as the three five year old girls were brought into the room under armed guard, each of them looking terrified.

"Naruto. These…beings you saved are not human. I have in my hands the medical report from Doctor Grant. They are an advanced Human-Haydonite Hybrid." He told the room.

Naruto looked at Rick in shock as the girls eyes darted around the room in fear, not understanding what was going on.

"Admiral. What do you mean?"

"They are barely a week old. Doctor Grant discovered signs of Haydonite technology in their bodies."

Naruto looked over at the girls before looking back to the Admiral.

"Sir. If I may? Who will take care of them?"

"No one. They will be under observation and will be studied as to understand how they were created."

Rick began to sit down when a loud thump caught his attention.

"No. They won't be lab rats. I'll take care of them."

Rick never really got angry. It was a very rare thing indeed. But right now, he was being pushed toward that.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki. You do not understand the kind of leverage they can give us. If we can us them against the Haydonites in anyway-"

"No. I understand perfectly. The same way your wanting to treat them is the same way I was treated as I was growing up. Oh yes…I recognize your hate and fear. It was the same I was given because of the creature I held inside of me. My village couldn't tell the difference between a child and the monster that attacked them." Naruto pointed and accusing finger at Rick. "And your doing the same thing. Your hate of the Haydonites has been showed on these girls who are guilty of nothing but having been created by the Haydonites! I thought you were more evolved than my people. Then prove it!"

The next thing he saw confused him. Rick was smiling!

"Your right. Your absolutely correct." Rick chuckled. "I guess we all forgot ourselves. I allowed peoples fears and hate to sway my decision. Lieutenant Uzumaki, they are your responsibility now. I guess we could all use some rest after today's events."

The men gathered in the room chuckled and agreed with him. They had all been leaping to conclusions and allowing their emotions to control them instead of using the heads they prided themselves on having. Naruto snapped off a crisp salute and left the room with the three girls, all looking thoroughly confused.

(End Flashback)

Claudia looked at him before she laughed.

"Only you would do that and get away with it!"

Naruto smirked and put an arm around her.

"Maybe it has something to do with being with the Admiral's daughter."

She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder as the pair watched the girls play.

"Do they have names?" She asked.

"Not form the Haydonites." He responded.

She looked up at him with a curious look.

"What did you name them?"

Naruto smiled and pointed to the one with dark hair.

"She reminded me the most of one of my old friends. Hinata. The girl was quiet and very shy around new people." He pointed to the brown haired girl who was laughing as she launched herself off the swing, landing on her feet. "Her name, she chose for herself. She wanted her name to be Jamie. Don't ask me how she came up with it or where she got it from." The last girl looked around and was trying to figure out what she wanted to do. "I named her after my mother. It only seemed fitting." He said with a smile.

Claudia smiled at that thought and laid her head back on his shoulder as Naruto put an arm around her.

"And their going to need a mother figure to help out. Want the job?"

Claudia's eyes almost popped out her head which caused Naruto to laugh.

"I'm not proposing. I just would like your help is all."

Claudia smacked his shoulder as he laughed harder.

"I'll help them, only because your incapable of raising a girl. Otherwise they'll become tomboys. They need a woman to make them proper ladies." She told him as she looked over at the girls.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow as a grin spread across his face.

"Really? You know someone that can help you then?"

Claudia looked scandalized as Naruto pulled her close to him.

"I was just messing." he said softly as he leaned in.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT LOSER CLAUDIA?!"


	12. Chapter 12: A New Dawn

Chapter 12 A New Dawn

Naruto pulled away from Claudia and snapped his head over to a certain person who he had knocked out last time they had been in the same location. Naruto stood to his full height and glared at the blonde man. Bobby returned the glare.

"You want some of this, freak? That's right. We all heard about your dirty little secret. Damn Invid!"

Naruto clinched his fists and took a calming breath before he spoke.

"Redfield. Leave. You have no claim or right to even be with Claudia."

Bobby looked enraged that Naruto was talking down on him.

"I'm-"

"Finish that sentence, and you'll end up eating through a tube." Naruto warned, interrupting him.

Bobby took a step back at how deadly calm Naruto sounded, but didn't let it get to him.

"She belongs with me. Besides, I know what she likes way better than you." He said with smug arrogance.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"Really? You know her better? Can you prove it?"

Bobby smirked and answered with his same arrogant tone.

"Of course I can."

"What's her favorite color?"

"Pink. Like all girls." He said as if were common sense.

Naruto shook his head.

"Wrong. She likes the color yellow. What's her favorite flower."

"Roses."

Again, Naruto shook his head.

"That's two wrong. And it's lilies. What is her biggest fear?"

"Bugs…right?" Bobby asked with a bit of uncertainty.

Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"No…Her biggest fear is losing everyone close to her." He informed him, his voice almost a whisper before he questioned him again. "What's her favorite food?"

Bobby returned to glaring at Naruto.

"Why don't you tell me? You seem to know a lot about her!"

"Yeah. Like you should. And it's spaghetti by the way."

Bobby raised his nose like the snob he was and gave the pair a smirk.

"Whatever. You know what? You two losers can have each other. Bobby Redfield only gets the best. Besides, every knows she was a whore anyway. Gave it up one month ago. At least…that what everyone thinks." He said with an evil smirk.

Next thing he knew, he was stumbling backwards with a sharp pain where his jaw was located. He regained his balance and tasted something coppery and something hard in his mouth. He spit the unknown items out, only to see a tooth come out in a small pool of blood. He looked up, enraged.

"I'll get you for this, Uzumaki!"

Naruto watched him run toward the medical center, probably to try to get the tooth reattached. He turned and saw Claudia sobbing. He moved over to her and pulled her close, whispering that it would be alright as she cried harder into his shoulder.

"Oh…I'm a fool." She sobbed.

"No. Your not." Naruto countered, stroking her hair as her whole body shook from her sobs.

Claudia pulled back just enough to look at his face and her tears came harder as she saw the kind, caring, tender expression on Naruto's face.

"Yes I am. You know more about me than he did! You were always there for me when I needed you."

Naruto gave her a small smile.

"True. But I'm your best friend. I'm expected to know all that. Otherwise, Cipher would have been your best friend."

Claudia smiled at him and shook her head.

"I don't think I can keep up with that brain." He watched her smile turn into a sad frown. "But what about the rumor he didn't even try to deny?"

Naruto grinned.

"Don't worry. I've been…persuading those who tried to spread it that you and he hadn't done that."

She gave him a confused look before it dawned upon her, making her smile and hug him.

"Thank you."

Naruto visibly relaxed as he returned the embrace.

"Anytime."

Before anymore could be said, three small blurs rushed over to the two adults, squealing with laughter as they joined the embrace. All three smiled up at them as Naruto tried to lift all five of them back up into a sitting position.

"You can't be done yet?" He asked them.

They smiled and shook their heads before taking back off to finish their game as Naruto helped Claudia back to the bench where they watched the girls play for the rest of the day, both watching with smiles and wondering what the future held for the pair.

Xxxxx

Rick sighed in frustration as they made their way back home. Thankfully, they managed to gain a decent amount of information on the Haydonites. He figured with both Louie and Janice working on this, they'd have something to go off of fairly quickly. He looked over at the main display as the counter began it's final countdown to defold. Now, he had to explain to the Regess and the families of his own soldiers how and why they had died. This was something he was not looking forward too. But that was pushed form his mind as they folded into real space and the visage of earth appeared. Rick couldn't help but smile as he saw his home planet.

"_To think. I haven't set foot here in thirty years or so."_

The legendary pilot leaned back in his seat as his display switched to that of General Reinhardt. The man gave Rick a polite nod in greeting.

"_Admiral. Good to see you made it back in one piece."_

"How is the relocation going?"

Reinhardt gave him a look that said 'pain-in-the-ass'.

"_Slow going. The civilians are extremely hesitant about approaching Earth. Seem to think the Invid will shoot them down before they reach the atmosphere."_

Rick gave a frustrated sigh.

"If they don't want to go, screw them. We have personnel who would love to set foot on Earth. Let them go then. Think of it as…a long over due shore leave."

Reinhardt grinned at his statement and promised to pass on the word, closing the channel as Doctor Lang stepped onto the bridge with a worried look on his face. Rick didn't even get a chance to speak before the doctor opened his mouth.

"Admiral. I need to speak with you, urgently."

Rick nodded and placed Commander Bernard in charge while he was away form the bridge. The Admiral lead the good doctor to the conference room where he was handed a simple paper with numbers and other symbols Rick didn't even pretend to understand.

"What's this?"

"That." He says, pointing to the paper, "Is the answer to the three girls strange predicament. Apparently, the Haydonites had a genetic set up installed inside their very DNA to age them five years every seven days. That is, until they reach maturity. I've calculated it out to them to reach a physical age of twenty years old. Yet they will be only a month old in traditional sense."

Rick's eyes widened.

"How will this effect them mentally?"

Doctor Lang rubbed his temples as he contemplated how he would explain this.

"The accelerated aging also will accelerate their brain development as well. They will be, for all intents and purposes, three fully adult women. Also, I discovered why the Haydonites created them."

Rick was very curious as to this. As far as he knew, the Haydonites wanted to exterminate humanity and all the other races who used protoculture. For them to create these girls meant that the Haydonites had some sort of plan in the works.

"They were going to be spies inside our own fleet. When we received the Haydonites help with the technology we received form them, they were able to access our computer database. These girls each had an identity created and ready for when they would be sent to us." He paused and took a breath before continuing. "The Haydonites wanted to know how we blocked their back door code by placing spies in our military with access to sensitive equipment. That was their plan."

Rick felt like he had been hit in the gut.

"Should we lock them away?" He asked.

Emil shook his head.

"No. The Haydonites weren't able to place that parameter into their minds yet. That was going to be the last thing they did before they would have deployed them."

Rick sighed before a rather twisted thought popped into his head.

"Are their more? Because they had no problem trying to kill these three."

Again, Emil shook his head.

"No. They Haydonites correctly inferred that we were trying to steal data. They have, with out a doubt, ceased this particular plan."

Rick gave a sigh of relief before he slumped in his chair. He looked up at the Doctor who had a somber expression.

"When is the funeral for Admiral Edwards?"

Rick donned the same somber expression as Emil.

"It's in a week once we return to Earth."

With a nod of his head, Emil left leaving Rick to feel older than he ever had. Now, he just had to figure out what he was going to tell the rest of their allies. He only hoped that they still had allies.

Xxxxx

Naruto grunted as he fished out the extra blanket out of his closet. Until he could get bigger quarters, the girls would sleep in his bed, while he took the couch. He had just laid down when three screams made him leap to his feet, grabbing his sidearm along the way. He threw his bedroom door open, only to see the three girls thrashing in pain. Naruto started to move foreward, but froze with with wide eyes as he watched them begin to grow. He watched in shock and fear as they began to change before his eyes, almost as if they were aging. As soon as it started, it was over. Each of them were shivering and sobbing as he hurried over and gathered them into his arms, best he could, trying to comfort them.

"It's okay. I'm here."

Hinata looked up at him, tears in her pale blue eyes.

"Daddy…what's happening to us?"

Xxxxxx

Naruto waited patently as Jean looked the girls over. Waiting with him were Lisa, Claudia, and Emil. All four turned to the bedroom door as Jean exited.

"Their fine now. From what I can determine, they have stabilized and are just tired. Congratulations. Your girls are now the equivalent of ten years of age. Next stop for you…teenage girls." She said with a smile.

The look on Naruto's face was pricless as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened. The idea of his girls chasing after boys, dating, and…their periods made him want to cry. Claudia and Lisa giggled at his expresssion, while Emil placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I do not pity your situation my friend. May God help you."

This only further amused the girls who laughed harder. Naruto shot them a quick glare before he turned back to Emil.

"How long will this last?"

"Three more times. After that, it will no longer happen."

"Can you stop it?" He asked him.

Doctor Lang shook his head.

"No. I may be a miracle worker when it come to Robo technology, but I cannot even begin to understand what the Haydonites used to do this, let alone prevent it."

Naruto sighed and thanked him. Doctor Lang, Jean, and Lisa excused themselves, leaving Claudia and Naruto. The pair moved to the couch and sat down, Claudia trying to comfort him.

"It'll be okay. Besides, I'll be here to help you."

Naruto smiled and pulled her close, enjoying the feeling of her body against his.

"I know. Thanks."

She pulled back and smiled at him sweetly.

"It's my job as their mom."

"And a fabulous one your make." He noted.

He paused when he saw her eyes start to water. He had no idea why she suddenly looked like she was about to cry.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Naruto was a bit shocked as she pulled back and gave him a radiant smile.

"No. It was right. I wonder what it'll be like to have children of my own. To feel the life growing inside you. Knowing that it will love you no matter what. I wonder what it's like?" She said absentmindedly as she ran a hand over Naruto whisker marks.

Naruto's eyes became half lidded as she continued her mist rations.

"Keep this up…and I might help you out with that goal."

Claudia leaned in until her lips were barly and inch from his, smiling.

"Not tonight. Maybe some other time, Blaze." She said before he gave him another kiss.

Naruto grinned as she rose from her seat and checked on the girls before she joined him on the couch. The two stayed in each others arms on the pull out bed has sleep came to the pair.


	13. Chapter 13 Time Alone

Chapter 13 Time Alone

Naruto sat on his couch as the three girls came into the room and jumped up the couch next to him. They sat like that for a moment before Kushina spoke up.

"Daddy? How did you meet mommy?"

Naruto paused and looked over the three who were waiting for him to respond. He saw no harm in it and decided to answer.

"Well…I meet you mom when I was six years old. The SDF-3 had just landed on my home world. I…Admiral Hunter found me as…Well…lets just say that he found me and took me to the ship. I was injured, but Doctor Grant and Doctor Lang were able to patch me up. Well…I meet her that same day. Actually…I think I have the photo album here sime where." He muttered and began going through drawers for a few minutes.

With a triumphant cry, he pulled the album out of his bed side table and handed it to the three and plopped back down on the couch. Naruto watched with amusement as the girls began looking through old photos of him and Claudia when they were younger and as they grew up. He had been staring off into space when Kushina caught his attention.

"Dad? You okay?"

He blinked before he smiled at her.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about work related stuff. You have a question?"

The three nodded and gave him a smile that he recognized as being one of Claudia's 'I'm-going-to-interrogate-you' smiles. He had a feeling in his gut that they were planning something, but decided to play along until he found out what it was they were trying to get from him. They each took their place on the couch with Hinata sitting on his lap, holding the photo album. It was opened to the page when they had just entered into the REF. Jamie looked up at him with a smile.

"Mommy sure is pretty. Do you think so Daddy?" She asked in the sweetest voice she could muster.

"She'd very pretty." He agreed.

Unbeknownst to him, Claudia was listening as the girls questioned him. She had managed to sneak in to the room once Kushina activated the com she had given the girl. Spying sure was fun.

"Do you like mommy?" Hinata asked him in sincere curiosity.

"Yes. Your Mom is my best friend."

That was when Kushina gave him a strange look.

"We meant like-like. You know, love?" She asked as if it was the most obvious question in the world, which it was.

Naruto was taken aback by this question and a moment of silence followed. Each of the girls were looking at him expectantly as Claudia felt her heart begin to shatter. Just another man who wanted her for her looks. She felt tears begun to sting her eyes as she berated herself for choosing wrong again. But what Naruto said next made her want to cry for a different reason.

"Yes. I do. I'm very lucky she's in my life and I would fight the whole Haydonite fleet by myself to keep her."

Hinata awed while the other two giggled, causing the shy girl to glare at them.

"What's so funny? I think that's sweet." She said, defending her father's statement.

Kushina gave her sister an amused look.

"You would. Your into the whole knight in shinning armor thing."

Hinata gave a humph and looked back to the album why the other two continued their questions.

"Are you going to get married?" Jamie asked.

Naruto blinked in surprise at this question, but couldn't respond before Kushina chimed in.

"Yeah. When will we get a little brother?"

Naruto felt his face reddening and was saved from answering by the sound of his door opening. He gave Claudia a very grateful smile as the girls shot over to her, all three giggling.

"It worked!"

Naruto gave her a curious look at Hinata's statement. Claudia hugged the three, giving Naruto a sly grin.

"Very good. What did you find out?"

Naruto now understood what had happened, and couldn't believe it.

"Daddy looovvvessss you! He said he was lucky you were with him." Kushina stated, stressing the word love.

Claudia looked over to him as he simply crossed his arms over his shoulder, giving her an amused look.

"You used our girls as spies?"

Claudia shrugged and looked back down to Kushina who was tugging on her pant leg.

"Mommy. We asked Daddy this, but he didn't answer. When are we getting a little brother?"

It was Claudia's turn to blush as Naruto began to laugh harder than he had in a while. Truth be told, Claudia had snuck out after Naruto answered the question on if he loved her and hadn't heard the other questions. She sent a sharp glare at Naruto before kneeling down to the girls level.

"Well…it's hard to say. Your father and I haven't made any plans for a baby yet. But you three will be the first to know. Now who want to go visit Grandma and Grandpa?" She asked.

The girls cheered and ran to the door, stopping to look at the amused adults. Kushina, being the more foreward one, gave them an impatient look.

"Com on! We aren't getting any younger over here!"

Naruto smiled even though that simple statement hit him more than a bullet to his chest. He stood up and together, he and Claudia left, hand in hand, heading to the Hunters' quarters.

Xxxxxx

"GRANDPA!" The three girls squealed and rushed over to leap on said man.

Rick let out an oomph as the wind was knocked out of him and was pushed to the ground by three laughing girls. Rick smiled at them and propped himself up on his elbows. A slight chuckle made all four look over to see Lisa coming out of the kitchen with a plate of freshly made cookies that made the four begin to drool.

"Now girls. Your Grandpa isn't as young as he used to be. Let's get him off the floor."

"Says you." Rick shoot back as he got up to his feet, his back popping slightly in protest.

He looked at the three adults in the room with a death glare.

"You say anything and I will throw you in the brig."

Lisa crossed her arms, with Claudia mimicking the action.

"Really? You would throw your wife in the brig?"

"And your daughter?" Claudia asked.

Rick looked to Naruto who shrugged.

"I got nothing."

This caused the adults to laugh while the girls looked at them in confusion. Kushina leaned over to Jamie.

"I think adults are crazy."

Jamie nodded.

"With out a doubt."

After a few seconds, Claudia pulled her mother into the kitchen to have a quick talk while Rick and Naruto simply stayed where they were. After a moment of silence, Rick spoke up.

"I just remembered. I'm having your fighter refitted with some new weapons systems. Should be done by next Tuesday."

Naruto nodded and Claudia and Lisa exited the kitchen. Claudia made a bee line for Naruto and pushed him out of the Hunters and into the hall, shouting a muffled good bye to her parents leaving Rick blinking in confusion.

"What was that about?" He asked.

Lisa smiled sweetly at him.

"Nothing you should worry about. Just a mother-daughter talk."

Rick's face remained blank as he turned and headed for his desk. Lisa looked at him in curiosity.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my gun."

"RICK!"

He looked back at her sheepishly as he pulled out a water pistol.

"I meant this one."

With that, he proceeded to shoot Lisa with the water gun, making her shriek in shock as Rick took off toward the door, laughing manically as the girls gave Lisa a curious look. She had an evil smile on her face as Rick stopped and stuck his tongue out at her.

"This means war, Admiral Hunter. Girls…get your guns."

Rick eyed the suddenly armed girls and Lisa who seemed to pull a water gun of her own out of thin air. Rick smirked.

"BRING IT ON!"

Xxxxxx

Naruto, to say the least, was confused as hell as Claudia dragged him back to his quarters. He couldn't even ask her what was going on before she shoved him through his own door and onto his couch. He opened his mouth to speak, but Claudia placed a finger over his lips.

"I'll be right back." She said softly.

Naruto watched as she entered his bathroom and shrugged. When you got to go…you got to go. He looked over at the clock and absentmindedly began to pull at small threads sticking out of the upholstery when he heard the door opened. A quick glance at the clock showed that it had been ten minutes since she went in. He turned to the door and froze, his eyes wide and his mouth half opened. Standing in the door way, one hand high on the frame, was Claudia. But it was her clothes, or lack there of that made him unable to form a sentence. She was wearing her officers jacket, and that was about all he could see. She His eyes traced her slender form. He took in her legs, slender and athletic, up to her waist that the jacket hugged nicely, showing her petite waist and hourglass figure. They traveled up to her chest which the jacket shaped nicely, showing her C cups with a nice amount of cleavage displayed even with the jacket. And finally they found her face which had a very seductive smile on her face as she took in his reaction.

"You like what you see?" She asked in a low, sultry voice.

Naruto, still to dumb founded to speak, simply nodded his head slowly. Claudia giggled and walked over to him, leaning down so he could see more of her. His suddenly closed mouth and eyes looking away made her smirk at his reaction.

"Something wrong?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

Naruto glanced at her and looked away, reddened cheeks and all.

"N-no. Nothings wrong."

Claudia used her thumb and index finger and turned his face to her's where she leaned in, closer enough for her to whisper to him.

"I though nothing scared you. Now…you and I are going to have a bit of fun tonight. Is that going to be a problem?"

Naruto simply shook his head. He could feel the heat radiating off her and the smell of her perfume…it was beginning to drive him wild. She slowly stood up and began walking backwards toward the bedroom, calling him to her with a single finger. Naruto slowly rose and followed her to the bedroom.

Xxxxxx

Rick tucked the girls in for the night and exited into the front room where Lisa was sitting with a cup of coffee and a very large smile on her face. In her free hand was a piece of paper that look rather official. Rick cocked his head to the side as she set the paper down and handed it to Rick. He took it out of curiosity and was surprised to see it was from medical. He read through it and froze when he came to the bottom. He looked up at her.

"Is this true?" He asked sharply.

She smiled and nodded. Rick dropped the paper and rushed over to her, laughing in joy as he picked her up and spun her around.

"I'm gonna be a father again!"

Lisa laughed as he set her down and was pulled into a kiss by Rick. She pulled away and Rick saw tears of happiness in her eyes.

"It's wonderful, isn't? Here we though Claudia was our miracle baby. And now…we're having another."

Rick smiled at her and nodded.

"Yes. It is. But now we have to tell Claudia."

Lisa smiled and suggest that they tell her in the morning. She just wanted to be with Rick for the rest of the night, which he was more than willing to do.

Xxxxxx

Naruto woke abruptly to the sound of his com unit. He grabbed the unit and activated it.

"'Ello?" He muttered groggily into the com.

The voice of Doctor Lang came through with a hint of amusement.

"I hope I didn't disturb you, but I have some good news on the girls. If you'd come by in a few hours, I'd be happy to tell you. I won't keep you any longer. Lang out."

Naruto tossed the com down and closed his eyes but he noticed a few things were out of place. For one…he was nude. That was odd since he slept in his boxers and an under shirt. Two…he felt someone using his shoulder as a pillow and whose legs were entangled with his. That was weird. And thee…they had the scent of flowers…like…lilies or…Naruto's eyes snapped open as he looked to his left and spotted Claudia lying next to him, a happy and content smile on her face. It took a few minutes for his paniced mind to calm down and recall the previous night. He smiled lightly as he brushed a strand of hair from her face, cauing her nose to scrunch up before her eyes began to open. She gave him a warm smile.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hey."

She snuggled deeper into his shoulder and sighed. Naruto pulled her close and relaxed as well. They stayed like that for several minutes before Claudia's com began to chirp. With reluctance, she activated.

"Liuetanent Hunter here." She answered with her official voice.

"Claudia? it's your mother. Your father and I have something we need to tell you when you can come over."

Claudia was confused, but didn't let it affect her too much.

"I'll be over soon."

Lisa's voice came back, but Naruto could her amusement in the voice.

"Okay. We'll be here. Oh…and good morning Naruto. I know your there as well."

Naruto smirked.

"Good morning to you as well ma'am." He responded.

Lisa's laughter came back across the com before she said her good bye and closed the channel. Claudia shook her head and got out of bed, turning to Naruto who's eyes traced her attractive figure. She placed her hands on her bare hips and gave him a smirk.

"Like what you see?" She asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Very much. And if I didn't need to go see Doctor Lang, I'd probably take you again." He said as he too rose out of bed.

Claudia unconsciously licked her lips at that thought. She may not know much about sex, but she was sure that if anyone knew how ell endowed he was…even only being a bit longer than average…she didn't even want to think about that anymore as her body started to heat up. Naruto was oblivious and got dressed, after his shower, and left with a parting kiss. Claudia watched him leave and layed back on the bed, smile on her lips and she curled up on his still warm side. She was happier than she had ever benn. This day couldn't get any better.

Xxxxx

Naruto entered Doctor Lang's office and saw Doctor Grant there as well. Both of them greeted the blonde.

"You need to speak with me?"

Doctor Grant was actually the first to speak up.

"Yes. We did. Take a look at this."

Naruto did as he was told as the screen displayed five different strands of DNA. He was confused as he looked at them.

"Well…the three in the middle show similarities between the one on the far right and the one on the far left. Looks like they are a combination."

Doctor Grant smiled and nodded her head.

"That is correct. Do you know whose DNA strands these are?"

Naruto shook his head.

"The one on the far right is your's. Far left, Claudia. The three in the middle are the girls. They are, genetically your's and Claudia's daughters."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"How is that possible?"

"That is what I am here to explain." A voice sounded from behind him.

Naruto saw a beautiful red haired woman with green eyes and a body that most women would die to have. She walked up to him and extended her hand. Naruto briefly shook her hand as she smiled.

"My name is Janice. And your daughters are a puzzle I believe I have solved."


	14. Chapter 14 Legends Arrive

Chapter 14 Legends Arrive

Naruto looked at Janice in confusion as she walked to the computer terminal and began tapping in a few commands. A split second later, a new display popped up showing the same DNA strands, but they looked…stable. Janice turned to Naruto.

"Your daughters are impressive. The Haydonites wanted to create the perfect infiltrators. And they did. Your girls would have been able to be anywhere in our fleet had the original programming been input into their minds."

Naruto nodded his head. All this he already understood, Doctor Lang gave him another grin.

"Yes. And with Janice's help, we have determined away to stop their aging. It requires a bit of gene therapy, but it'll work."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. Lets pretend that I know absolutely nothing about genetics."

Doctor Lang chuckled as Doctor Grant shook her head before responding.

"I means we can stop this on a cellular level now that they have a stabilized genetic code."

Naruto's face split into a wide grin as he rushed over and hugged Doctor Grant and moved on down the line. Janice blinked at him in confusion and watched the blonde tear out of the room, intent on telling Claudia. Janice turned to the two Doctors with confusion written on her face.

"I am…confused. Why did he hug me?"

Doctor Grant placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's nothing to worry about. Naruto…he is a very open person and tends to be easy to read. You'll get used to him. Lord knows we have."

Xxxxx

Claudia entered her parents quarters with a massive smile she couldn't seem to get rid of and it was the first thing Lisa noticed as her daughter entered the room.

"Well…don't you look happy. " She noted with a smirk.

Claudia reddened slightly as she sat down at the dinning room table with her mother. Lisa sat down and kept her smirk.

"What?" Claudia asked, feigning innocence.

"So…you and Naruto…" Her smirk only widened. "You two sleeping together or…?"

Claudia turned extremely red as she tried to glare at her mother, with out much success.

"I believe that is my business. But…" She began to smile again which in turn made Lisa smile.

"How was it?" Lisa asked. "He didn't use you, did he?"

Claudia sent a small glare to her mother before she continued, both women wainting on the tea.

"It was wonderful He treated me like I was the only person in the universe. He was gentle and he never went further than I was comfortable with." Claudia aighed dreamily again which caused Lisa to giggle at her reaction.

"Just don't tell your father you had sex. He knows, but…"

Claudia tried to picture herself telling her father and could only laugh at the image of his creeped out face in her head. She tried to stifle the laughter but couldn't as Lisa joined her, both women thrown into a fit of laughter at the thought of his expression. After several moments, they were able to stop laughing and continued their conversation.

"Well…I'm happy for you sweetie. You've got a good man. Make sure you hold onto him." Lisa advised her.

Claudia smiled and nodded, planning to make sure she never lost Naruto.

Xxxxx

Said blonde was currently walking to his Alpha with a bright smile on his face. He greeted the personnel and fellow pilots as he made his way across the bay and saw his wingmen coming his way. He raised a hand to them in greeting and they increased their pace.

"Hey boss! How was your night?" Baker asked.

Truth was, Tom Baker was related to Chris Baker, one of Naruto's fellow Academy graduates from Naruto's class.

Naruto smirked.

"It was a good night."

Svenson grinned as he leaned against the post behind him.

"You got laid, huh, Skipper?"

Gregory Svenson was a good pilot and had a great eye for people. It also didn't help that he attracted quite a few stares of most of the female pilots. But he seemed to not really care, or if he did, he hid it well. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the man.

"How would you come to that conclusion?"

Svenson just shrugged his shoulders.

"You just seem happier than normal."

Naruto chuckled and shook his head.

"You two need to stop poking into my personal life and get one for yourselves."

Baker placed a hand over his heart, mocking outrage.

"Boss! That hurt that you think I have no personal life."

"'Cause you don't." Svenson spoke to him.

Baker glared at him which caused Naruto and Svenson to laugh at him. It was a good day.

Xxxxx

Naruto made his way home and was surprised to see Claudia waiting outside his door for him. He greeted the love of his life with a quick kiss that she seemed to melt into. He pulled back long enough to open the door and the two entered. Claudia sat on the couch while Naruto made a bee line for the shower and was in in out as quickly as he could muster. The blonde walked back into the room, plain white tee on with a pair of blue jeans and socks and plopped down next to Claudia who seemed to be happier than normal. He waited, knowing she would tell him when she wanted to. Sure enough, she faced him with the brightest smile he had ever seen on her face.

"I found out I'm gonna be a big sister."

Naruto grinned and hugged her.

"You'll be a fine sister." He said, kissing her gentle to end his statement.

Claudia beamed at him and hugged him back, thanking him. She pulled back and looked around in confusion and opened her mouth to ask where the girls where, when the door opened and three blurs shot into the room, giggling, as they slammed into Naruto and Claudia. Naruto looked at the door to see Doctor Grant smiling at them. He quirked an eyebrow at her and she nodded.

"The gene therapy was a success. They'll age normally now. But now you have to suffer through their teenage years." She said with a smirk as she left, letting the door closed.

Naruto scowled at the door as Claudia laughed, quickly followed by the three girls. They didn't think they'd be that bad. Oh, how wrong they would be.

Xxxxxx

Time passed smoothly on the SDF-3 over the next six months. If they hadn't been at War, it would have been perfect. Naruto himself had changed drastically over the last several months, having made Lieutenant Commander last month and was now in charge of his own squadron, but Rick had yet to tell him which one he would be getting. It was with a sour face that he left the Admiral's office and made his way down to his quarters. What really bugged him was that the Haydonites had seemed to almost vanish the last six months. But that didn't stop them from looking for them They were doing some kind of experiments, but what they were doing was beyond his pay grade to try and figure out. He sighed as he found his home and entered to see an empty house. Of course, The girls were at school and wouldn't be home for several hours. And, he thought with a smile, neither would his fiancée. He'd proposed to her just two days ago and was still in shock that she had said yes.

(Flash Back)

Naruto felt nervous as he lead a blindfolded Claudia through the on board park to an area they had found when they were little. It was a small cliff over a lake complete with a waterfall that kept the façade of a natural environment when in reality it was just circulating from the fall to the lake back to the fall via underground pumps. But that didn't ruin the experience. Naruto lead her to the intended spot and looked around to make sure no one would ruin this moment. He remembered what Rick had told him when he had asked to do this.

"_Remember what I told you when you started dating. Hurt her, I hurt you."_

Simple rule, but Rick had given them his blessing. Lisa…she didn't need to be convinced when he had asked her what she thought.

"_You've been an unofficial member of the family for years. Now it'll be official. Just remember, hurt her and what Rick will do to you will be nothing compared to what I'll do."_

He knew that they were only doing their jobs as parents and knew that Naruto would never hurt Claudia, but they still enjoyed screwing with his head. Once Naruto had found the spot he stop them both, while Claudia simply smiled.

"Where are we? I hear water."

Naruto smirked.

"One moment." He said as he snaked his arm behind her head and undid the tie for the cloth over her eyes.

He stepped back quickly as it dropped to the ground and saw her blink a few times to get used to the light. She looked around and gasped the sheer majesty of the scene. She looked over to a grinning Naruto and started foreward but he stopped her with a hand.

"Wait. I need to do something first, but quick question. This is your favorite spot, right?"

Claudia smiled and looked over at the lake.

"I used to come here after school, just to relax and enjoy the sight of the lake. It always struck me as out of place on a ship meant for war, but then again, children seemed out of place on a ship of war as well. And…the color of the water…the depth and sheer amount of welcome it seemed to shine with…it was beautiful to me. Still is." She said as she continued to look over the water.

"Good to hear that. I have one more question for you." He spoke.

Claudia looked to him and what she saw brought tears to her eyes. There, on one knee, was Naruto, small black box in hand as he grinned at her.

"Claudia. You are, with out a doubt, the most perfect woman I have ever meet. Will you do me the honor, and not to meant put the girls mind at ease, and marry me?" He asked.

She stood their for a moment, hand over her mouth as Naruto waited, very nervous before she rushed over and hugged him, tears running down her face.

"Yes."

Xxxxxx

Naruto grinned as he plopped down on the couch in the front room and stretched out, intending to relax when…

"Alert! Unknown contact approaching. All pilots, report to your stations. Marines to your assigned stations!"

Naruto leapt off the couch and grabbed his com unit and answered it as he rushed out the door.

"Commander Uzumaki."

"_Commander. Head to Viper Squadron's fighter bay. Commander Sterling will brief you there."_

Naruto sent his reply and high tailed it to the bay and meet up with Maia as she was tearing down the bay top her own squadron. She glanced at him.

"Nice of you to join us. Now, your new squadron is further down the bay. I think you'll like the name." She said with a smirk as they rounded the next corner.

Naruto almost stopped at what he saw. It was an emblem with a Fox that had a paw on the number nine with nine furry appendages behind it. He couldn't help but grin at the image as he slowed to see a group of pilots in formation, waiting for them. Maia stepped in front of them.

"Listen up. We don't have a lot of time for pleasantries, but I want to introduce you to your Squadron Leader. Lieutenant Commander Uzumaki. He's a hell of a pilot and you'd do well to listen to him. He's brought back more of us than anyone else. Now with out further delay, I'll leave you to your new commander."

Maia gave him a nod and headed off to meet up with her own squadron. Naruto looked over them and nodded.

"As Commander Sterling stated, I am your squadron CO. I'll try to get to know you all after we get back. But right now, we have a job to move. Mount up!" He ordered.

The pilots scattered to their veritech as Naruto looked back at the writing on the emblem. It read: Fox Squadron, 9th Attack Squadron, _Aut vaim inverniam aut faciam. _He grinned as he recognized the expression. _I'll either find a way or make one._

Naruto hurried over to his fighter and got himself secured in his own cockpit just in time for his squadrons take off. He was happy to see that both his old wingmen were with him. Naruto locked in his systems and jammed his throttle forward the moment the deck hand gave him the go. He opened the squadron wide com.

"Fox Sqaudron. Keep your heads on a swivel out here."

He closed his com and looked ahead to see what all the fuss was over. What he saw, shocked him.

"What the hell is that?" He whispered.

For floating in space, surrounded by a swarm of Haydonite fighters with frigate support was what appeared to be half a hull. Naruto activated his visual targeting systems and punched the throttle, hurtling toward the swarm of enemy fighters.

"Here we go! Let's show this little bastards how we do things down town!"

Xxxxxx

Deep with in the bowels of the ship, thousands of years old, a single blinking red light pulsed in the darkness. In the room sat a single unit, light coming from with in it, fractured and diffused along the dark walls and the ancient equipment. The sudden arrival of the unknown contacts out side caused a spark through the system. The systems began to reactivate and slowly, they vessel began to show life. Several minutes later, the unit began to activate. Slowly, the lid opened, a cloud of frost and other particles floating out of it. Inside, an armor clad soldier from a long forgotten war pulled himself out of the unit, drifting into the darkness, helmet lights scanning around the room. Nearby, a pedestal glowed brightly and the light began to swirl and condense. A split seconds later, there stood a beautiful young woman with shoulder length hair. She looked up at the green armored being with a hint of amusement.

"You're a deep sleeper John."

* * *

Yes, I am adding halo to this. No I have not lost my mind. It's part of the story. Mainly explain the Haydonites. Oh come on. Like you haven't noticed their resembelnce to a Monitor with that single eye and floating thing. The Awareness looks like a monitor for crying out loud. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter. Things are along going to get more interesting.


	15. Chapter 15 Past Warriors

Chapter 15 Past Warriors

Naruto sighed in relief as they shot down the final Haydonite fighter with relative ease. The frigates had been taken care of by a few snychro blasts from the SDF-3 and the rest of her battle group. Not bad with two dozen capital ships and a few thousand fighters. But he really didn't care at that moment as he and his squadron flew closer to the floating hulk. Naruto felt his eyes widen as he tapped the com for the SDF-3 ATC. The image of Claudia appeared om screen and it took him a moment to realize that she had lat moved to ATC, making her his superior officer.

"Claudia, we've got something here on this hulk."

"_What have you got?"_

"Writing. I can read it. Says FFG-201. _Forward Unto Dawn._ What kind of name is that?" He wondered as he took in the sight of the ship.

Claudia meanwhile recognized the registry prefix and did a quick check. Sure enough, it was what she thought it was.

"_The FFG prefix stands for a Guided Missile Frigate. It's an old Earth system, used on American warships. But there is no ship with the number 201."_

Naruto paused and seemed to make a decision.

"Baker. Svenson, your with me. Lieutenant Wheeler will have command until I return."

"_Just what do you think your going to do Commander?"_

Naruto grinned.

"Ready three cyclones. We're gonna see what's on board."

Xxxxx

John slowly drifted to the only surviving armory all while mulling over what had happened. They had defeated the flood at the Ark and had attempted to flee when the portal collapsed. And severed the ship in half. After that, he went into the freezer and had stayed that way for way too long. According to Cortana, something had happened to where they were trapped inside of a slip space bubble and had been stuck there for a while. She warned him that since they had been inside the bubble for close to fifty years, and that the time dilatation effect caused by such travel seemed to happen with Forerunner technology involved, that time outside could have either been faster or slower than what they experienced. She also told him that it could have very well tore a hole into an alternate reality as well, mainly due to the high energy readings from the destruction of both installations. John frowned as he pulled the door open. He hated it when she had hunches like that. Most of the time, they turned out to be pretty accurate. He shook his head as his boots made no sound in the vacuum and he looked around, pleased at what he saw. The Spartan moved to the nearest weapon rack and scanned the contents. Several shelves of M6G magnums, a dozen MA5C assault rifles, a rack of BR55HB SR Battle Rifles, two dozen M7/Cassless Submachine guns, a dozen M90 CAWS Shotguns, less than six SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper rifles, a couple turrets in the far corner, and a whole crate of M9 HE-DP Fragmentation grenades. He walked around the room to see if their was anything else and only came across a single Spartan Laser that had half a charge left in it. The Chief gave an internal size. He'd take what he could, and if need be, he'd fall back to the reserve supply cash three decks down. The Chief made his rounds and decided on two M7s, an MA5C, a BR55, and the M90. The M7's he secured to his thighs with the magnetic strips along with an energy sword, and placed the BR and the M90 across his back like an X and shouldered his MA5C that he had retrieved from the Cryo Bay. He glanced down and was at least satisfied that he had four frags secured to his person as he made his way back to the cryo bay, relying more on the magnets in his boots to hold him to the deck as he thundered back to the bay. He came into the empty room and looked around in confusion. He was sure Cortana had stayed in the room, something about a loose end she needed to see to.

"Cortana?"

The pedestal pulsed to life and the AI took her form. The look on her face could only be one of pure exhaustion. This made the Chief worry.

"You alright?" He asked, moving closer to the podium.

She held up a hand and took a deep breath, the codes along her body slowed and she seemed to be calmer.

"I'm fine. Just not as young as I used to be." She gave him a small smile.

"I think I have a few more years on you, and yet I'm not complaining."

Cortana gave him a level look.

"Alright caveman. You win this round. But just remember. I can always get even."

The Chief was about to say something in retort when he felt a slight shudder. He spun around, rifle level at the hatch as the shudder came again, though weaker than the last one. He turned to Cortana who had an eyebrow raised.

"What…was that?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"I have no idea. And," She said as she raised a hand to him. "I am not rampant. Already went through that little song and dance twenty years ago. I'm as safe as you are. When there's nothing for you to shoot. Or kill."

John cocked his head slightly to the side.

"Your rampant?" He asked, deathly calm.

She shook her head and gave him a pout.

"Was. I believe I have reached that theoretical state. I'm stable. I swear."

John paused for a fraction of a heartbeat, looking into her eyes and saw the truth there. She wouldn't hurt him. He was sure of that. He knew it was a risk, but he had been through too much and lost too many friends to even doubt her word. At the end of the day, he would trust her, regardless. Hell, he went through a Forerunner Portal, not knowing where it led to, even when they al thought she was rampant! What was so different now compared to then? He nodded and reached forward to tap the release controls when Cortana stopped him.

"Wait. I want to show you something. You see that pod beside yours?"

The Chief looked over to the said pod and was surprised to see it was active.

"Yeah. What's in it?" He asked her, moving forward.

"Me."

Xxxxxx

Naruto had to admit, it was an impressive ship, even if it wasn't as big as the SDF-3 or any of the other Sentinel Races. He had to chuckle at the memory of seeing the Haydonites stomped into the dirt by the Karbarrans when they tried to attack their home world. And the Praxians managed to actually adapt the shadow tech quicker than humanity did. Trust a race of geniuses to figure it out. And one the races, an extremely honorable and very proud race of beings had laughed at the Haydonites when they had attempted to attack Tirol. From the reports they had received, the Haydonites had suffered severe losses before being driven off by them. So far, the war was in their favor, but for him much longer? He pushed those thoughts aside and continued forward when his motion sensors caught movement. He stopped and raised his EP-40 pistol and scanned the area. He thought he'd caught the sight of something…purple. He shook his head and continued forward, looking around him. He was actually glad he'd gone with the VR-041 model cyclones instead of the more up to date 52 series. While the newer series was faster and quicker, it was also almost eight feet tall, which would have limited their movement, regardless of any improvements it had over the 41. That, and if things turned nasty, they could rely on the sabers that came with it to cut a path through any enemies. Literally. The blonde stopped again, but this time, he had a good reason to. They had found their Haydonites alright, but they weren't in functioning order. He bent down and looked one of them over and saw that it was peppered with holes. One was even cut in half. A dozen Haydonites littered the ground that they had to step on to get to the other end of the corridor. He was curious as to who had done this. He just hoped that the one responsible wanted to play nice.

Xxxxxx

The Chief checked his motion tracker and noticed that their were three unknown contacts in the hall he had just vacated a minute ago. Cortana had been speechless at the constructs that had come thundering down the hall to them and started firing on him after saying one simple word that caused his blood to run cold. _Reclaimer._

"Chief. Are you mad?" Cortana asked quietly.

The Master Chief didn't respond because he didn't know what he could say about the situation.

(Flashback)

John looked back at the hologram in confusion.

"What?"

Cortana smiled.

"Well…while you were asleep, I started thinking about things. And one was the fact that no matter what I do, or what I say to you in my defense, HIGHCOM will shut me down after extracting whatever useful information I have on the Flood and the Forerunners."

The Master Chief remained quiet but all the same, he wouldn't let Cortana be killed. She was probably the only person left alive he could trust. He had to smile at that statement. He'd started to see her as more than the sum of her parts, so to speak and had actually started to think of her as a flesh and blood being.

"They'd have to get through me to do that." He stated, not sure why he did.

Cortana smiled at him and knew that he had no clue how much him saying that meant to her.

"They'd find a way. But, I came to a solid conclusion. If I was human, they'd leave me alone. I'd be allowed to live a full life."

"I hate to point this out, but your not human." He really didn't know where she was going with this.

She shook her head and pointed back at the cryo tube.

"I know. But I will be. In that tube lies a body I have created for myself. It is fully human, down to the smallest detail. You can see if you want."

The Chief was indeed curious and mad his way to the tube, wiping the frost off of the tube and immediately stepped back in shock. Inside the tube was a young woman with shoulder length dark hair. He looked back from Cortana to the being in the tube and saw that it looked exactly like her. He now didn't know what to do.

"The body was created form the DNA profiles of Commander Keyes and Doctor Halsey. It took several tries to make a viable clone, but here is the results in front of you. A perfect body for me."

John faced her slowly, his grip on his MA5C tighter than he should have.

"How many tries? And what did you do with the failures?" He asked, his voice clam but his mind racing.

"2,707,103 tries. And I know what your thinking John. I did not just toss them aside. I simply reversed the process, and broke them back down into their genetic code before they were even fully matured."

The Master Chief gritted his teeth and nodded his head. He didn't like it, but he could still at least help her.

"Why Commander Keyes?" He asked as he looked back at the body.

"Simple. She looked…better than Doctor Halsey."

"Explain."

Cortana smirked.

"Simple. Doctor Halsey never turned heads when she walked by. Commander Keyes did. Including yours."

The Chief shrugged off the last comment because, yes, he had checked the Commander out once or twice, but hell, despite the fact that he had a chemically repressed sex drive doesn't mean he isn't a man. He just tended to not act on it.

"Alright. What do we do?"

"We get _me_ to a safe location, preferably the med wing so I can do the transfer."

The Master Chief was about to agree when the shudder returned. He stepped outside the bay and looked to his right and spotted six purple machines just staring at him. He leveled his MA5C at them, unsure how to react. He got his answer when they came charging down the corridor, firing energy rounds at him.

"RECLAIMER!"

"Ah hell." He muttered as he sent a stream of lead at the lead machine. "Not again."

(End Flashback)

The Chief was thankful that he had grabbed one of the only two plasma swords left on board as it had helped to make short work of the machines that seemed to be hell bent on killing him.

"Just like old times." Cortana said as they made their way to the medical bay.

He grunted his acknowledgement to her statement and turned the corner to come face to face with what appeared to be an armor clad human. It stood almost seven feet tall and carried some kind of pistol in it's hands and had a mirrored visor similar to his. Neither moved as the simply tried to figure out if the other was a threat. He was broken from his musings as a red dot appeared next to him. The Chief leapt away and landed in a crouch, searching for a target. A quick glance up showed it's leg trying to impale him. The Chief leapt back and landed on his feet, and kicked off, moving well with in the things range of melee combat. It tried to crush him again, but as it raised it's leg, the Chief shoot his fist foreword, punching into the single eye it had. He pulled his fist back as it reared up in rage, or what he guessed was it's equivalent. He moved to his right as it brought it's leg down again. The Chief slammed his right forearm against what he took as it's head, shattering the right side of it's face, making it stumble to the left. The Master Chief gave it no time to recover as he shoot his right leg out like a piston, crushing what ever it had that was it's brain. The thing fell to the deck is a sparking heap as the being he had came nearly visor to visor with stepped forward and handed the Chief his rifle back. The Spartan looked at him with hesitation before it spoke in a human voice.

'I'm Lieutenant Commander Uzumaki. Who are you?"

John stood a bit straighter and lowered his rifle.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra 117."

"Well, Master Chief. I see that you and the Haydonites have gotten along nicely."

John thought that was an understatement as Cortana chimed in over the suits internal speakers.

"John. I think we should play nice with these people. They may be our only way home."

"Agreed." He open the channel back to the officer in front of him. "Sir, I need a ride home. Would your captain be willing?"

Naruto smirked.

"I think I can work something out with the Admiral. But we need to get off this ship first."

The Chief looked around and nodded his head.

"Agreed. I only request that the equipment in the reserve bay be taken as well. It contains a lot of items in it that is the Property of the UNSC." Not to mention he had alot of gear that he would need if theses Haydonites seemed to want him dead.

Naruto nodded and they began to make their way back to the exposed section when the ship shuddered under stress of some sort of impact. Naruto activated his com to the Bridge.

"Claudia, what the hell was that?" He demanded as they took off at a run down the hall.

Her voice came back quickly.

"_Haydonite reinforcements. They seem intent on destroying that ship."_

Naruto glanced back at the Chief and returned his attention back to the front.

"Yeah. Might have something to do with a survivor we found. We're heading for a reserve bay near here. Then we'll leave."

"_Why?"_She asked.

"Our friend has a few things that he has to pick up."

Claudia sighed over the com.

"_Very well. Just hurry."_

Naruto closed the com just as they skidded into a cargo bay and his jaw dropped. It had at least fifty of what looked like shipping containers inside it. He turned to th green armored one.

"I don't think we'll be able to carry all of this off the ship."

The Chief pointed at a large red handle that had the words Emergency Airlock Release stenciled over it.

"Oh. Well. Carry on."

The Chief gripped the handle and yanked it down so hard, he tore it out if the console. Naruto blinked before watching the massive doors open and the air that had still been in the seal bay rushed out, pulling the now free containers out into space. Naruto turned to the Chief but the Spartan was already heading out of the room.

"Where we going now?" Naruto asked.

"Launch bay. I have one more item I need to pick up."

Xxxxx

The Master Chief and company arrived at he launch bay and he was pleasantly surprised to see several Pelican and a flight of long swords still in the bay. He was just trying to determine what to take when Cortana came up with a brilliant idea.

"Take one of the pelicans. I can take remote control of the rest of these and use them as a distraction."

The Chief agreed and headed for one of the Pelicans nearest him. He had to admit that the universe had a sense of irony as the Pelican they entered had the tail number S-117. He noticed the symbol of a Spartan helmet and crossed swords behind it and guessed it was part of Sierra flight. These pilots were crazy bastards to the core. They would drop into zones no one but a Spartan would land in. Hence why their Pelicans had said symbol. He moved to the front of the Pelican and tapped the controls to bring it's systems online. He was upset to see one of the Long Swords across the bay stutter and flame out, but he figured that fifty years of no maintenance and usage would have it's effects. He was very relieved when the Pelican started up and looked around to see the other vessels making their way out of the bay. He watched them rocket into space and head off to attack the Haydonite fighters. The Chief maneuvered his Pelican behind the others and they headed out into space. The Chief glanced at Naruto.

"Where to?" He asked.

Naruto simply pointed to the blue and silver vessel. The Chief nodded and adjusted course and soon the massive SDF-3 covered the whole window. The Chief was impressed by it's size. A sudden tap on his shoulder caused him to look back to Naruto.

"Your friend's pod is beeping."

The Chief was about to ask what he meant when Cortana spoke up.

"Oh. Did I forget to mention? I'm a copy. The original is already in the body. And by the sounds of it, the sync is complete."

The Chief rose from his seat and walked back to the pod that hissed with escaping cyro gasses. John held his breath as the lid rose, the contents obscured by the gasses venting out. After several moments, they cleared and a slender female form pulled itself out of the tube, revealing a naked woman with shoulder length brown hair and piercing blue eyes. The woman paused and looked at the Master Chief before she smiled and pulled her arms toward her chest, covering herself to the best of her abilities.

"As much as I would love to stand here let you drool over my new body, I think we should get me a set of clothes before we land."


	16. Chapter 16: Punch It

Chapter 16 Punch it

Naruto glanced over at the Chief as the being simple stayed where he was before the woman snapped her fingers in his visor.

"Chief! Chief! John! I need clothes."

This seemed to snap the chief out of whatever stupor he was in and the man rose turned and opened one of the containers in the webbing above the crash seats and tossed the flight suit to Cortana who eyed it with disbelief. She looked to the chief who simply shrugged his shoulders before returning to the cockpit and concentrated on landing the Pelican, not the naked woman in the troop bay. She gave an exaggerated sighed and began to pull the flight suit on. Naruto and the other two looked back out the cockpit window as the Chief was guided into the landing bay by a rather surprised looking LSO. The poor man didn't know what the hell the big green thing landing in the bay was, but he figured he'd let the Admiral deal with it.

"Well. This is going to be interesting." A female voice spoke from behind them.

Naruto turned to see the woman from the tube wearing a plain flight suit that seemed to have the same symbol of a helmet that looked like the Chief's and a pair of exotic swords crossed behind it. He liked the motto stenciled around the patch: _fortes fortuna iuvat._ Fortune favours the brave. The blonde cocked his head to the side as the woman as she gave him a smirk.

"See something you like Commander?" She asked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm already taken. Anyway, we need some information from you. Like a name and rank."

Cortana blinked in confusion and in her split second delay, the Master Chief spoke up.

"Commander Cortana Miranda Halsey. She was one of the officers in charge of my most recent mission." He spoke.

Naruto nodded and turned to the rear hatch as the drop ship touched down a little heavier than usually, but with out any other problems. After a moment of silence, the rear hatch opened and a very curious Admiral Hunter was waiting for them. Naruto stepped off the Pelican as did the remaining members of his team. All three came to attention and snapped off crisp salutes that the Admiral returned.

"So…have fun?" Rick asked.

Naruto grinned.

"Yep. Found a guy who kicked the hell out of at least a dozen Haydonites by himself. Even killed one in hand to hand."

At this, Rick's eyes widened in shock.

"Really? I'd like to meet this man."

Naruto grinned and pointed behind Rick. The Admiral turned around and took a step back out of surprised. The being in front of him was at least 7 feet tall and incased in green battle scarred armor with a golden visor covering his face, making him look like something from ancient Earth History. Rick composed himself and stood up a bit straighter. The man in front of him came to attention and snapped a crisp salute.

"Sir! Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117 requesting permission to come aboard."

"Permission granted, Master Chief." Rick responded with a salute of his own.

Next to the green man stepped a woman with shoulder length dark brown hair, blue eyes, and judging by the glances the males on the flight deck were sending her way, a very attractive figure, even in the flight suit. The woman came to attention and rendering a salute as well, although not as smoothly as it could have been.

"Commander Cortana Halsey. It's a pleasure to meet you Admiral."

Rick returned her salute as well.

"Well. An enemy of the Haydonites is welcome aboard, however, I must inform you that all weapons will be taken to the armory. Also, I'm going to ask that you remove the armor as well Chief. Despite what you say, I have no way of knowing if you are a threat to my ship and personnel."

The Chief shook his head.

"I'm afraid I cannot comply with that order, sir. You don't have the clearance to hold the armor."

"But I do. Admiral, if you'd permit, the Chief will remove the armor, however, we will be keeping it in our sight at all times."

Rick though on it for a moment before nodding.

"Very well. However, the weapons is non negotiable. They will be stored in the armory."

Cortana nodded. Both the Chief and her knew that was coming. With reluctance, the Chief handed over all the weapons he had on his person. The Admiral told them that an officer would take them to gust quarters for now. Cortana had asked him to make sure that they shared a room, mainly under the pretense of the Armor, but mostly so she could talk with the Chief in private.

Xxxxx

The Chief finished removing the last of his armor all the while avoiding looking in Cortana's direction. He could feel her watching him and knew she had something on her mind. He gave a mental sigh and turned to face her and wasn't disappointed in his guess. She was sitting on the couch on the far side of the room and simply waiting for him to finish.

"'Cortana Miranda Halsey?'"

The Master Chief shrugged.

"It fit. You're a combination of those two so it made sense. Besides, we had to come up with something quick."

Cortana paused and had to admit, he was right. She nodded her head and watched as the Chief opened one of the cases that the Admiral had allowed them to take with them. Inside was a pair of UNSC Navy Fatigues in the standard digital green coloring. She herself was wearing a set of fatigues as well, but had forgone putting the top on and settled with a simple black under shirt that had NAVY stenciled across the front. The Chief had also decided to leave the top off for now, at least until they left the room. He sat at the small table and began to roll the sleeves on his blouse and glanced over at Cortana.

"Any idea who they are?"

She shook her head and watched the Chief.

"No. But after what I've seen, I think we've been propelled into another reality."

The Chief paused and gave her a skeptical look.

"Don't look at me like that. Besides, it fit's the evidence. I can't say anything else until I've had a look at their history techs."

John nodded and looked back down at the sleaves, satisfied that they would be perfect. But he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest to her. Things that had been weird when she was an A.I., but now they would be perfectly acceptable.

"Cortana. I have a question for you. Why me?" He asked, leaning back in his seat.

The woman blinked in surprise before she answered.

"I choose _you_ specifically because for one, the link needed for me to interface with a human brain was so close. Our neural patterns were extremely close to each other. In essence, you were the perfect match for me."

John raised an eyebrow at her. This was new information to him.

"Alright. So our brains are similar. What are your other reasons?"

She gave him a level look.

"Slow down caveman, I'm getting there. Two, you are with out a doubt, the luckiest man ever to have lived. You leapt into a bunker full of Covenant, and not just regular Covenant. You leapt into a Bunker full of Ultras along with over a dozen other special forces Grunts, Jackals, and even a Hunter Pair. And you managed to kill every one of them by yourself."

John snorted. He'd gotten lucky. Besides, anything will fall at your feet when they get an 8 gauge magnum buck shot to the face. Cortana smirked at him.

"Yes, I know what your thinking. And the M90 did save you, but the fact is, you have more luck and skill than anyone. And three…you were very handsome in the photo I was shown." She said with a small blush.

The Chief cocked his head to the side and watched as she composed herself.

"So…you choose me because of all that. I have another question for you. What are your intentions in your new body?"

She gave him a startled look.

"Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged.

"Just curious. Seems to me, you have an alterior motive to wanting a new body is all."

She locked eyes with his and saw…something in the steel blue eyes of his but had no idea what it was. She was saved from further questions by a knock on the door. John got up and answered it to reveal the blonde commander from earlier. He gave them a grin.

"Hey Chief. I was instructed to escort you to the med bay for an examination."

John nodded but stopped before looking back at Cortana.

"What about Cortana?"

"Commander Hunter will be by momentarily to walk her to the med bay."

John nodded and turned to Cortana how gave him a shooing motion.

"Go on. I'll be fine."

The Master Chief grabbed his blouse and exited the room, pulling it on and following Naruto to the Med bay. No more than a minute passed before a knock on the door was heard. Cortana rose from her seat and answered it to see a young woman close to her apparent age.

"Commander Halsey, I presume?"

Cortana smiled.

"Commander Hunter?"

The woman nodded, returning the smile.

"Yes. Well, what do you say we get this done with before the boys get back."

Cortana smirked and grabbed her own fatigue blouse and left the room, following Claudia to a separate med bay.

Xxxxxx

John stood perfectly still as Doctor Grant extracted the needle from his arm and gave him a small smile.

"Well. That takes care of that. Now…we need to get some information from you so we can have at least something of a file on you."

"I will answer what I can without divulging any classified information."

Doctor Grant nodded and sat down on her stool, pulling out a pad and a pen.

"We'll start with you age."

John paused before he answered.

"I'm currently 96 years old."

At this, Doctor Grant dropped her pen and her jaw dropped.

"Your…96? You don't look a day over thirty!" She stated, retrieving her pen.

"Most of my career was spent in cryo storage between combat operations. As is, I was recently revived after nearly fifty years in cryo."

Doctor Grant was intrigued to say the least.

"Can you give me an over view on how this cryo seems to prevent you aging?"

John nodded.

"In cryo storage, all of the body's functions are lowered including cellular aging. This allows for a high age bracket, while physically, the person in cryo is the same age in a cellular sense, as when they went in." He explained.

She wrote down the information. Who knows what they could do with that kind of technology.

"Alright. Do you have an allergies to anything including medications?"

"No."

"What is your blood type?"

"O+."

She nodded.

"That's good. Means if you get shot, we know what we can use. Do you have an medical conditions?"

He shook his head. She looked over her pad and nodded, satisfied that the little information she had would suffice for now.

"Well. That's all I need for now. Come back tomorrow so we can get the physical done."

The Chief nodded and walked out the med bay and spotted Naruto trying to remain awake in the waiting area. He gave a sigh of relief as the Chief walked over to him.

"Well…I assume your good for now. What's say we hit the galley and grab a bite to eat?" He asked.

Before he could answer, two grinning woman walked over toward them. John recognized Cortana but wondered what was making her smile like that.

Xxxxx

Cortana sat across from Claudia as they both talked a bit about themselves over a cup of tea. Cortana had learned a lot about these people and could safely say that John and her had indeed crossed into another reality.

"So…" Claudia began, lifting her cup to take a sip, "That guy you came aboard with. What's his story?"

Cortana sipped her own drink, still getting used to these new things that were now required of her.

"He's a SPARTAN-II Super Soldier. Originally, he and his fellow Spartans were to be used against rebels who would have plunged the UNSC into a civil war between the inner colonies and the outer colonies. His history…isn't very pretty. He's been a soldier for all of his life. And he knows nothing else." She said.

Claudia nodded her head, at least understanding some of what was explained.

"Does he have a last name, or is it just his number?"

Cortana paused and smiled.

"Well…I guess since he's a Spartan, it's only fitting that that be his surname. After all, all of the other Spartans were his family."

Claudia smirked at her, making Cortana a little confused.

"What?"

"You like him." It wasn't a question.

Cortana sighed and looked into her cup.

"Am I that obvious?"

Claudia's smirk widened.

"Only if someone is looking in your direction. That and when you talk about him, you get this far off look on your face."

The other woman groaned.

"If you can see it and you've only known me for a few hours, then he sure as hell knows. After all, we've worked together for a while now."

After a moment of silence, Cortana looked to Claudia.

"You know. You're the first person I feel like I can confide in. I mean, the Spartans are loyal and will storm the gates of Hell if ordered tom but they are not conversationalists."

Claudia gave her a bright smile.

"What are friends for?"

Cortana returned her smile. _"Friends…I like it."_ Before they could continue on, Claudia glanced at her watch and back to Cortana.

"We'd better go meet the guys. Admiral Hunter wants to talk with you two in an hour."

Cortana nodded and the two headed off, leaving a few bills on the table for the waiter and headed off to meet the two men before heading to the conference room with the Admiral.

Xxxxxx

Rick looked over the two people in front of him. He glanced to his left and right and noticed that all the assembled officers were present before he cleared his throat and rose from his seat.

"This meeting is called so that we can get some information on you both and to ascertain if you are a threat to this ship and to our fleet. We have come across some interesting information regarding you, Chief and I would like to get some answers."

The Master Chief stood a little straighter.

"I will answer your questions to the best of my abilites, but if the answer involves compromising any standing orders of the UNSC, I will not answer that question."

Rick nodded and took his seat.

"Fair enough. To start with, state your name, rank, and service number."

"John-117. Master Chief Petty Officer, United Nations Space Command Navy. Serial number Sierra 117-25-112 Juliet."

Rick waited for the scribe to finish writing down the information.

"What is your age?"

"96 years old, sir."

There was a murmur of surprise at his statement, but a simple cough from Rick silenced the noise.

"Do you have a surname?"

"Not one I remember."

Rick looked at him in confusion.

"Remember? What do you mean?"

John shook his head.

"I'm sorry, sir. But I cannot answer that question with out violating sensitive information."

Rick wanted to press the matter, but knew he couldn't. At least not from the Chief.

"Very well. Another question. Where are you from?"

"I was born on Eridanus two."

The chamber again was a buzz of information, mainly because there was nothing on that planet. And there were no signs anything had ever been there. Rick silenced the room again before he asked his next question.

"I received a very unusual report from Doctor Grant thirty minutes ago. In her examination, she discovered that your muscle density is almost three times that of a normal human. Also she noted that some sort of carbide ceramic coating on your skeletal structure. Would you mind explaining these discoveries?"

John shook his head.

"Again, I cannot answer that question due to the fact that the information is of a sensitive nature. I do not have the clearance to reveal that information to you."

"But I do." Cortana spoke up.

John turned to her with surprise. Cortana gave him an apologtic look before she turned her gaze back to Rick.

"Before I tell you, I must ask that you understand. The circumstances that prompted the radical procedures was total war between the Inner Colonies and the Outer Colonies and subsequent extinction at the hands of a terrible enemy."


	17. Chapter 17: Worst Things Have Happened

Chapter 17 Worst Things have happened

Cortana looked across the room before she chanced a glance at the Chief. He was still standing where he was, be she could see the slight narrowing of his eyes. She gave an internal sigh and hoped he wouldn't be mad at her.

"Project Orion started in 2491, when ONI came to the conclusion that open warfare between the UNSC and rebel forces was almost inevitable. The program launched and sixty five Marines were chosen for it. The program used biological and cybernetic enhancements. The program was a success. These men and women were the best of the best, hence the name of their unit. They were the SPARTAN-Is. They severed in several black ops and other campaigns for over 15 years, and at the programs peak, there were over 300 SPARTANs. However, it was decided that despite the outstanding record of the SPARTANs, the program was deemed too costly to maintain and was shut down in 2506."

She paused and let their scribe write down the information before she continued.

"In 2517, ONI again released a report stating that the instability with the Outer Colonies was progress at an alarming rate and unless extreme measures were taken, war would indeed be the next step. So, Doctor Catherine Halsey, my…mother…came forward with the plan to reactivate the ORION program, but in a completely radical way. Section three gave it a green light and she began. Seventy-five out of a possible one hundred and fifty candidates were chosen based on genetic gene pool that Doctor Halsey concluded would make the best match for the goals of the program. One, to create a group of elite soldiers to subdue the Inserrectionalists. Two, to minimize civilian casualties and prevent civil war. And three, to reduce the cost of conventional means of pacification."

"You mean silence, don't you?" Rick asked, already not liking where this was going.

Cortana nodded.

"Yes. The UNSC had given them plenty of alternatives, but they refused everything. The program was the only option left to prevent all out war. But the worst part of this program where the candidates. The seventy-five chosen were six year old children. They were trained to be the best."

"What of their parents? Didn't they have an objections?" Lisa asked from her place beside Rick.

"They never knew. They were replaced by flash clones. Unfortunately, the clones were not…perfect. They later died due to congenital diseases."

Rick rose from his seat at this and gave her a hard look.

"What you have just told me is immoral. You took children from their families? You're monsters."

The Chief didn't like that statement and stepped forward.

"With all due respect, sir, Cortana had nothing to do with the program. She is as innocent as those of us that were pulled into this."

Cortana gave him a thankful look that made his heart skip a beat. He had no idea why she was invoking these strange reactions from him, but he was starting to like them. Cortana was oblivious, or so he thought, to the reactions and she continued.

"That's not the worst part. They were subjected to augmentations that killed 33 of them. Several others were disfigured to the point that they would not be able to function in a combat capacity."

Rick looked ready to freak out at this point but Lisa's hand on his shoulder caused him to stop. She gave Cortana a calm look.

"Continue."

"Yes ma'am. The Spartans record was beyond expectations. The Master Chief here alone has been in over two hundred separate engagements and has won every major commendation the UNSC has except the Prisoner of War medal. They were also instrumental in our fight against an enemy that was bent on the complete destruction of the Human race. The Covenant."

Lisa looked at her with curiosity.

"Can you tell us about the Covenant?"

"They are a gathering of alien species under a single body. They worship those we call the Forerunners, an ancient race of humanoids who vanished at the end of a war of galactic proportions. The Covenant revered them as Gods and followed them fanatically. They declared humanity an affront to their 'Gods' and began a genocidal military campaign against humanity. The number of dead in in the excess of billions. The Covenant had pushed us all the way back to Earth, but we were able to defeat them in our final mission which is what brought us here, so to speak."

The room was silent as they processed the information. It was terrifying to hear, sense they too had faced complete destruction on multiple occasions. Rick had already read of the young commander's theory as to coming into an alternate reality. Doctor Lang had looked it over and confirmed that it fit the evidence they were provided with. He rose from his seat and gave Cortana a calm look.

"Thank you for this information. While I do understand the circumstances as to why your people did what they did, I cannot condone their actions. But I will not and can not hold you or the Chief responsible. For now, you are dismissed."

Cortana gave a sigh of relief and started to leave when she saw the Chief step forward.

"Sir. If I may. What became of the supplies I jettisoned off of my ship before it was scuttled?"

"All of your gear was stored in storage bay 10. Once our scans are complete of the contents, you will be free to inventory it."

The Chief nodded. While not satisfied with the answer, he understood the reasons. The two UNSC members left the room.

Xxxxx

The Chief leaned back in his chair, taking in all he had just been through. Fifty years of cryo, Cortana getting a body, crossing into an alternate reality. This was just getting weird, but he'd experienced weirder. Right now, he was thinking about Cortana. He'd known he had some feelings for her, mainly because even as an AI, she was the only person who could understand him. Yes, he'd had a crush on Linda, but she was with Fred. And last he heard, Kelly was still waiting for Randall to return. The Chief thought back to those two. Kelly had been so competitive, pushing Randall into competitions that sometimes had no real meaning, only just for her to be near him. He remembered how hard she had taken it when they had learned that he was missing. The Chief had to admit, Randall was a tough Spartan and he never left anyone behind. The reports had even indicated it, showing that he had stayed to stall the Covenant advance. It was at Dwarka, one of the few planets that the UNSC had managed to keep the Covenant from glassing. When he and Blue Team had meet up with Team Wolf, they'd learned from the others that he had managed to prevent the enemy from getting to the three wounded Spartans as they retreated. He remembered it like it was yesterday…

(Flashback)

John moved quickly through the streets, ignoring the cheers of triumph from the Marines as the last Covenant Cruiser fell from orbit in a fireball of wreckage. He need to get to his Spartans, to his brothers and sisters still on the planet. He could see Kelly's vitals peaking slightly above normal and knew what she was thinking. He opened a personnel channel to her.

"I'm sure he's fine. You know him. Crazy bastard never gives up."

He could almost sense her smile as they continued through the streets, coming upon the bank that Team Wolf had bunkered up in. John entered the first, MA5B rasied while Fred entered with dual M7s and Kelly clutching her M90. John opened and com and whistled a simple tune only the Spartans knew. It was returned quickly and a green armored figure appeared from the vault, holding an M90 with an SRS99 Anti Material sniper rifle across it's back. The figure took to fingers and swiped them across it's face plate, a gesture that Blue Team returned. John opened a general channel.

"Report."

The Spartan responded, his voice gruff and exhausted sounding. His tag appeared on the Chiefs HUD. S-122, Petty Officer Second Class Joseph.

"We're not doing so good Chief. Grace is banged up pretty bad. Torn ACL and multiple fractures from what I can tell. Jorge is out too. Concussion most likely. He got hit by a fuel rod blast that melted some of his armor."

John looked around before he settled his sights back on Joseph.

"Where Chief 037?" He asked.

Randall was currently the only other Chief Petty Officer in the Spartan Corps. He was just as competitive as John was which made them rivals earlier in their training. Didn't mean he wasn't a hell of a soldier. But the way that Joseph paused before responded made him worry.

"He stayed behind Chief. Covenant were advancing on our position by the Hospital, covering the civilians retreat. Grace took a hit from an Elite who was cloaked. Jorge moved in, killed the bastard and got a chest full of plasma. Hurled him back into a wall, slamming his head against it in the process, knocking him out. Chief told Grace and me to get Jorge to safety. I grabbed Jorge and helped Grace get to safety. Just before I lost sight, I saw him leap into a crowd of the bastards, mostly Elites, with two of their energy swords in hand. Their screams were heard for blocks before an explosion occurred from there. Haven't heard from him since."

John knew what Kelly was thinking. But he had other things he had to do first.

"Joseph. Secure the wounded and move them to the Pelicans. Kurt will assist you."

Said Spartans nodded and headed to their assignments. John looked back to Fred and Kelly.

"You two are with me."

They nodded and followed him as he headed off to the hospital. When they arrived, it was total carnage. Bodies and body parts littered the ground, all Covenant. Blue Team moved through the gore, checking for any survivors. After a few minutes, John heard Kelly give a shout to them. He spun around and saw that she had an Elite by the throat. The alien was trying desperately to claw her off his neck, but to no avail. He could hear her interrogating it as he approached.

"Where is he? Tell me damn it! Where is the human that kicked you asses?!" She demanded.

It gave a gurgling sound as she tightened her hold on it's throat.

"T-the…d-demon….was c-carried…away…b-by…angels…." It gasped out as it tried to breathe.

John moved forward and locked his visor on it.

"Explain."

"It…was knocked back…b-by…the Mgalekgolo…when it tried to stab it. T-The angels came…and…carried it off…I do not know to where…"

The Chief nodded and Kelly closed her fist, crushing it's throat and killing the creature. John watched her as she seemed to become completely still. He didn't know what to say. But thankfully, Fred seemed to have a gift of words at that moment. He crouched down next to her, hand on her shoulder. John knew that if the helmet was off, he would see tears, and he couldn't blame her. Every time they lost one of their own, it would hit him hard.

"Kelly. I know it hurts. But he knew the risks when he sent his team away. He sacrificed himself to save them. He's a hero. And we'll keep going. Killing as many of theses bastards as we can, avenging all of our fallen." Fred looked back over the battle field, "There is an expression he told me once, something that he'd come across. He told me he liked what it meant because it was the way he felt Spartans should live. 'To know even one life has breathed easier because you lived…this is to have succeeded.' It's by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Based on that, I'd say Randall succeeded."

John watched as Kelly rose to her feet and headed back to the Pelicans. She was about six feet from them when she glanced back at them.

"He's not dead. I just know he's not."

John nodded and moved Randall to the MIA list, and noted that he was one of the very few who actually were missing. John saved the changes to the roster and gave Fred a brief nod and the pair followed Kelly back to the Pelicans.

(END)

John's eyes snapped open when he felt someone staring at him. He looked up and saw Cortana giving him a small smile.

"You alright?" She asked as she made her way over to him.

John nodded and rubbed his temples for a moment before speaking.

"I was just thinking about the others. How they all seemed to pair off. And where it left me."

Cortana walked over and sat beside him, taking his hand in hers.

"You have me."

John sighed.

"You don't have to pretend. I know that the reasons you cared to begin with was your programming. If I died, you died."

Cortana let go of his hand and stood up and walked a few feet away. John could see her form shaking and was taken aback by this.

"Cortana?"

She rounded on him and he could see tears starting to fall.

"You think I don't care? Really? You think I only cared about your safety because mine was on the line? You insensitive ass!" She screamed, tears flowing freely.

John was now confused beyond all reason. He had no idea what to do.

"I fell in love with you, John! After Halo, when we spent all that time alone before we managed to escape to Earth, I knew that I had developed feelings for you. Why? I don't know! I chose not to act on them because we could never be more! I thought you cared for me as well. You charged into hell twice to rescue me. I guess I'm not as smart as I thought I was!"

Cortana turned to leave but John caught he wrist, holding her in place, his face impassive. She glared at him.

"Let me go." She demanded in a dangerous voice.

John refused to let go and Cortana threw her free fist at his jaw. John caught it and spun her around to where her arms where across her chest with her back against his chest. Her eyes narrowed in anger.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO YOU COLD HEARTED, UNFEELING, BASTARD!" She screamed.

John refused to let go as she began to cry even harder. He felt like a damned fool for what he'd done. He guessed now was as good a time as any.

"You say you love me. I…don't have much experience with love. I only ever loved my brothers and sisters. I know I care for you. A lot more than I should. I never acted on it because…I don't know how to." Cortana stopped struggling and listened to his calm voice. "I've been trained all my life to block out emotions from my judgment. But with you…I couldn't do it when you were an AI and I still can't now that your human."

She still had a few tears in her eyes, but they were for different reasons.

"You unable to do something?" She asked.

John spun her around and gave her one of his few rare smiles.

"When it comes to you."

Cortana's lip quivered as she tried to control her emotions.

"Then I want you to do one thing."

He cocked his head to the side.

"Let go tonight. Just…forget all that military crap and just be…just be human. For tonight. Let your emotions control you." She whispered, her fingers tracing his jaw line.

John hesitated, unsure how to proceed but in his mind, a simple phrase seemed to repeat itself. _"Kiss her." _John closed his eyes and leaned in quickly, pressing his lip against hers. He could feel her shock and hoped he didn't misinterpret her. But when he felt her pull him deeper into the kiss, he gave an internal grin and patted himself on the shoulder as they moved to the couch. He lost track of time and the next thing he knew, he had her pinned under him. She was breathing heavily as she locked eyes with his.

"You plan on just staring? Or shall we continue?" She teased.

"You sure about this?" He asked her.

Cortana propped herself up on her elbows and gave him a smile.

"John, you're the only one who I want. So, yes, I want this as long as you promise me one thing."

He waited while she seemed to look into his eyes.

"Promise me you'll never leave me."

And then it dawned on him. She was lonely, like him. John smiled.

"I promise."

She pulled him down to her and kissed him. The night was one that neither would forget.

Xxxxx

Deep in another plane of space, a green armored figure woke to find a pair of pure energy like beings standing near him. The man reacted quickly, leaping to his feet and dropping into a low combat crouch. The beings seemed amused.

"Be at peace, child of our fathers. We mean you know harm."

"Where am I?" He demanded.

"You are in a Shield. You and the others like you are needed elsewhere."

The man was thoroughly confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"We will transport you and the others to this place."

The man watched as they began to glow brighter, his visor polarizing to it's maximum level, but he still had to shield his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"Child. We pass the Mantle onto you and your brethren as we did with those called the Forerunners. It is up to you to save those who need your help."

"Who are you?"

The beings paused and he could almost sense their smiles.

"We are the Guardians. Now go, Spartan. The others will join you in due time."

In a flash of light the armored human was gone, leaving the Guardians to turn to the next bubble in subspace containing several humans.

"Are you sure we can trust them?"

The middle one simply watched as more of the armored humans began to explore.

"They are the ones who will save us all. Despite the faults of the Forerunners and their failures, these children are indeed the ones to bring balance to all. It is their destiny as Guardians of the Metaverse."

"What of the others?"

The middle one looked at a display that showed a blonde, whiskered human laughing and playing with three girls.

"They are bound to the others more than they realize. The connection of the Forerunners does indeed run deep."

* * *

What do you think? Good? And yes, The Guardians are the same guys who blow you up, or when you get killed by the environment in Halo. But now we begin to reach the thickening point of the story. Stay tuned to find out just how deep the connection goes.


	18. Chapter 18: Come Together

Chapter 18 Come Together

John woke the next morning in a sense of content. He felt happy, warm…loved. He felt a smile spread across his face as he felt a smaller being next to him snuggle into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Cortana and pulled her closer to him, savoring the feeling of her warmth. John felt her jolt awake before she simply melted into his arms.

"Mmm…I could get used to this." She mumbled.

John chuckled in response.

"So could I."

Cortana propped herself up on his chest and gave him a bright smile.

"Hi." She said sweetly.

"Hi."

She glanced over at the clock and John watched a bigger smile play across her face making him raise an eyebrow. She began running a finger across his chest, humming to herself. After a few moments, John used his thumb and forefinger to raise her chin so that they made eye contact.

"Something on your mind?" He asked.

She gave him a heart melting smile.

"I was thinking that we could…repeat last night."

John grinned at her and began to lean up to capture her lips when a loud knock made the two pull away. John sighed and rolled out of bed as Cortana laid on her side, glaring intently at the door. John grabbed a pair of boxers and a shirt before he opened the door. Standing at his door were Naruto and two men he didn't know. Naruto gave him a grin.

"Hey Chief. We were getting a few of us together to have a guys night out. You game?"

John hesitated and glanced back into the room where Cortana was giving him a pout that he couldn't help but smile at. Naruto followed his gaze and immediately averted his eyes, his face reddened slightly.

"Umm…I forgot to mention that Claudia would be coming over to take the Commander out for a Girls Night out. She kinda ordered me to take you with us." He said sheepishly.

John looked back at Cortana who gave him a shooing gesture.

"Go have fun."

John turned back to Naruto and nodded.

"Sounds good sir. I should be ready in fifteen minutes."

Naruto nodded.

"Alright. We'll wait here."

John nodded and closed the door. He turned to Cortana to fin her stretching out on the bed before giving in a slight smile.

"Well…I guess I should get dressed as well seeing as Commander Hunter will be by soon."

John nodded and tore his eyes away from her slender body and grabbed the civilian clothes that they had picked out. A simple pair of blue jeans and a simple black shirt with a grey pull over hoodie. John looked at himself before shaking his head. He never really did feel comfortable in civilian clothes. He pulled on the black sneakers they had gotten for him and he turned to find Cortana, but said woman was already in front of him, pulling him into a kiss. After a moment, she pulled away and gave him a small smile.

"Go have fun John. Make some new friends."

John nodded and headed out the door.

Xxxxx

Naruto looked over at Micheal and Jack, both waiting for their fourth wheel to exit the room. Naruto checked his watch and looked up at the door just as the Chief exited the room, looking uncomfortable.

"Hey. Relax Chief. It's gonna be a good night." Naruto stated as he clapped him on the shoulder.

The man nodded and looked over at the other two. Naruto grinned and dropped back to stand between the two.

"Chief. I'd like you to meet Jack Bartlett and Micheal Dixon. These two have been my friends since I was six."

Both nodded in greeting, Micheal actually talking to him while Jack simply gave a slight nod.

"So…Chief. You got a name? I mean, I don't wanna spend all night calling you Chief." Michael inquired.

John paused for a moment before giving a mental shrug. It's not like it mattered anymore if he kept his name secret.

"My name is John."

Micheal grinned and drapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Well, John. It's nice to meet you. Now. To the Bar!" He declared, pointing his finger in the direction of said establishments.

The other two cheered and steered the Chief to the Bar. It would be an…interesting night.

Xxxxx

Bay 10 was quiet as the only things inside it were the strange cargo containers from the new addition to the crew. But that silence was about to be broken. If anyone would have been in the bay, they would have seen a conduit of sorts begin to open. Energy shot out from it, smashing against the wall, showering the deck in sparks and melted metal. The conduit pulsed rapidly before a green blur shot out of it, slamming into the steel container with enough force to smash through it and dent the steel deck on the other side of it. The green armored being skipped across the deck before slamming into a bulkhead, stopping. After a few moments of silence, the being rose shakily to his feet before looking around.

"USNC cargo pods…What the hell?" he muttered as he neared the pod he'd smashed through.

He looked inside.

"Hmm…pair of Warthogs in this one. This all looks like reserve gear."

The being walked to the next pod and tapped the open command.

"_State you identity."_

The man took a split second to register that the container was talking to him.

"Chief Petty Officer Spartan 037."

The pod hummed for a moment before responding.

"_Identity logged. Please provide authentication code to access MJOLNIR components."_

037 blinked in surprise, but responded quickly.

"Authorization code one-one-alpha-one-bravo."

The locks clicked but the doors held steady as the pod spoke.

"_Log in confirmed and logged. Awaiting final code for complete MJOLNIR access."_

"Code zero-zero-zero."

The pod happily complied and opened the case, causing 037 to gasp. Along the sides of the pod were different helmet, shoulders, and chest pieces for the MJOLNIR armor. But these looked way more advanced than his mark IV. He slowly walked around the pod and discovered that there was enough gear here for at least a dozen separate armor units. He gave a low whistle and removed his helmet, running a hand through his close cropped brown hair.

"Yikes. There's enough armor here for at least a dozen Spartans. Wonder which Spartans are here." He looked back out the opening. "Where ever here is."

Xxxxx

Rick looked over the report with concern.

"Your sure?" He asked the ensign in front of him.

The young man gave a nod and Rick placed the pad down.

"Very well. Pull up the video feed from Bay 10 for the last twenty minutes."

The man moved quickly and had the requested video feed up. They watched with nothing happening for almost ten minutes before something began to happen. Rick watched as some sort of energy pulse zapped one of the Cargo bay walls before a green armored thing shot out of it and clean through one of the containers and slammed to the deck, denting it. Rick paused the image once the being has risen to his feet.

"That looks a lot like the armor our guest has. But…looks more like an earlier model." Rick mused as he leaned back into his chair.

He tapped the ship wide com.

"Master Chief 117, report to Cargo Bay 10."

Xxxxx

John was currently sitting next to Naruto as they shared stories of their training. He had also told them of a few of his mission and a bit more about the Covenant from his prospective and how they seemed to be scared senseless by one of the SPARTANS appearing on the battle field. To say it was rather humorous describing Grunts running from him was an understatement. Naruto spit his drink out, laughing too hard to swallow it with Jack having beer shoot out his nose while Micheal pounded his fist in the table, trying to breathe. All in all, it was a good night. Until…

"_Master Chief 117. Report to Bay 10."_

John looked over to Naruto as the man wiped his chin off and nodded to the guys.

"Alright. Fun's over. Let's see what's going on below."

The two men nodded and left, following Naruto as he led the Chief to said bay. What they saw was very interesting. Several dozen Marines were set up with rifles pointing toward the hatch that looked like it was still secure. Something else that interested them was that Rick was waiting outside the hatch as well. The Admiral saw them approach and gestured for them to hurry over. Once they arrived, he began to explain what was going on before they even asked.

"We have an intruder in the bay. Looks like he's wearing an earlier model of the armor you came aboard in. Unfortunately, he perceived us as a threat when the Marines failed to give the correct answer to his question."

The Chief looked toward the hatch and kept his gaze locked on it with out looking back to the admiral.

"What was the question?"

"We don't know. The Marines that he asked, were incapacitated by non lethal shots from some sort of high caliber rifle. I believe it fires three round bursts."

John nodded and started forward until the Admiral stopped him.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm probably the only one who can fix this. If it is a SPARTAN, then I can handle it."

Rick gave him a questioning look.

"If not?"

Rick watched as the Chief looked back to him, his face emotionless but his eyes telling another story.

"I'll eliminate it."

"Very well, Master Chief."

John continued through the hatch and stayed as low as he could when the unmistakable crack of a BR-55 filled the bay. John dived forward as the rounds slammed into the bulkhead, half an inch higher than his head. He recovered and pressed his back against the container and picked up and M6D.

"_Where the hell did this come from? Didn't HIGHCOM phase these out once the C's and G's came out?"_ John wondered.

He didn't let it phase him as he prepared himself to confront this unknown aggressor. Before he could move, a voice rang out through the bay.

"I don't know who you are or what ship this is, but unless you turn yourselves in for theft of UNSC property and explain how you got your hands on classified material, I will be forced to take drastic actions."

The Chief paused for a heartbeat.

"SPARTAN. Identify yourself."

"You first Innie."

John sighed.

"_Great. He thinks I'm an inserrectionlist. I guess I have to play things his way."_

"John-117."

The voice paused.

"Serial number." The voice demanded.

"Sierra 117-25-112 Juliet."

"John?" The voice asked.

"Identify yourself SPARTAN. That's an order."

John heard a thud and looked to see it was indeed a SPARTAN in the old MK IV armor system. The being lowered his rifle and waited for John to make his move. The Master Chief stepped out, M6D held to his side should he need it.

"Randall-037. Chief Petty Officer. Serial number 037-23-989. Is that you John?"

John nodded and stayed where he was.

"Listen Chief. Things have changed since you've been gone. Right now, I need you to put the rifle down. I promise I'll explain everything."

The SPARTAN nodded and placed the BR on the deck before removing his helmet and giving the Master Chief a grin.

"Well…I guess we have some stories to tell now, huh?"

Xxxxx

To say Randall was taking the news well was an understatement. The man didn't even blink when he learned that this earth and reality was not the one he was familiar with. The Chief, however, took the news about Reach pretty hard. He'd been…recruited from said planet and had kept tabs on his family over the years. He had no way now to know if they were even alive, but he figured it was a moot point since he'd been missing for most of the past sixty years. He, did, however, want one specific piece of information.

"John. Where are the others? Where's Kelly?" He inquired.

John sighed and explained that most of the SPARTAN-II members were dead, and only a few were truly missing, like himself.

"As for Kelly, last time I saw her was before our mission to take out a massive Covenant command ship. Doctor Halsey took her…somewhere. I don't know where."

Randall nodded his head in understanding and also in thanks for what information he did have. Before he could ask another question, alarms began blaring through the ship.

"_Yellow Alert. Unknown contacts 120,000 kilometers and closing. All pilots to your stations. Admiral Rick Hunter to the bridge."_

Both Spartans leapt to their feet. John looked at Randall and grinned.

"Wanna see the new toys we developed after you disappeared?"

Randall returned his grin.

"If it's that new armor I saw packed up, than yeah. I wanna see what the Eggheads came up with."

"Follow me Chief. It's time to put on the MK VI."

Xxxxx

The being eyed the human ship with admiration.

"It is a strong ship. It appears our ancient allies were not exaggerating."

It clicked it's mandibles together as it turned back to it's command chair. One of the junior officers on the bridge turned to his shipmaster.

"Shipmaster. The Humans are scrambling fighters. Should I raise shields."

The Shipmaster rubbed the two stubs on his left side where the mandibles had once been before he leaned back in his seat.

"No. I believe it is merely a precaution. One can hardly blame them. After all…any good Sangheili would do the same. Send a message to them. Tell them we wish to talk of an alliance against the Haydonites and their bastard Awareness."

The officer turned to his station before his eyes widened in shock. His voice was subdued as he spoke, not tearing his gaze from his display.

"Shipmaster…I detect…Spartans."

The Shipmaster rose from his seat.

"By the Gods. Spartans? This war may have very well turned in our favor. Send the code handed down by the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam so many years ago. I believe the time his teachings spoke of are coming to pass."

* * *

I know this might seem a little confusing. Just bear with me. I'm trying to make it as streamlined as possible.


	19. Chapter 19: Modern Warfare

Chapter 19 Modern Warfare

The bridge of the SDF-3 was a hive of activity as they simply stared down the new contacts, fighters zipping around in space while the rest of the REF Battle Group 3 prepared for any possible hostilities. A beeping at the com officers console caught the young Lieutenant attention.

"Sir. Incoming message. Audio only,"

"On speakers."

The static cleared before a sound blared through the bridge speakers. It was a simply six tone melody that Rick recognized as _Oly Oly Oxen Free._ He didn't get it, but Commander Halsey did. Rick watched her slowly rise to her feet and stare at the speakers as it played the tune again. Rick gave her a questioning look as she faced him.

"I suggest we get the Chief up here. In the mean time, open the channel. I recognize this signal."

Rick nodded and the ship to ship com channel opened. She whistled the same tune back before she spoke.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are."

Rick cocked his head in confusion before a voice sounded around his bridge.

"_Hail Humans. Take heed. This is the carrier _Shadow of Intent_. Flagship of the First Sangheili Assault fleet. We come with no hostile intent. We only wish to talk."_

Rick nodded to the Commander and rose from his own seat.

"This is Admiral Richard Hunter. What do you wish to discuss?" He asked.

The voice came back quickly.

"_My name is Ship Master Rtas 'Vadum. I wish to talk of an alliance against the Haydonites."_

Rick nodded until he remembered that he couldn't see him and spoke.

"We'll bring you aboard and discuss this further if your okay with it."

"_That is…acceptable. However, I wish for the Spartans to join us. There is someone who wishes to speak with them."_

Rick blinked but agreed. He saw noting wrong with it.

"Very well. We'll contact you in thirty minutes."

"_As you wish. I await your signal. 'Vadum out."_

Xxxxx

Rick called John to the conference room with Cortana and Randall as well. He asked John if any alien species knew about him in this universe and John told him no. Rick had even run the name bay him, but John didn't recognize it nor did Cortana or Randall. So they simply waited. John and Randall both wore the MK VI, John wearing the standard with Randall exchanging the MK VI chest piece with the CBQ variant with the HAYUBASHI shoulders. He told John that the combination helped increase his arms mobility, but still provided adequate protection. Also, he said that it was a good thing to have a knife with in arms reach if things went to hell. John quietly agreed with him and was now waiting inside the conference room with Rick and a dozen other officers when he heard it. A trio of heavy foot falls with the slight sound of armor jostled slightly by the movement. John and everyone turned to the door and had completely mixed reactions to the beings who entered. John and Cortana had shock, Randall tensed, hand ready to grab the knife, and the REF forces to take a step back.

"Were it so easy indeed."

"JOHN! Get down!" Randall yelled, pulling his knife from it's sheath and reading himself to charge the Elite in the doorway.

The Master Chief spun around and grabbed Randall's arm, making the other Spartan struggle in confusion.

"What the hell are you doing?! It's a Covenant trap!"

John held steady.

"Stand down, Chief." He growled at Randall.

The other Spartan ceased his struggles and re-sheathed his blade and moved away from the Elites. John turned to the silver armored one who appeared to look…amused at the Spartan.

"Trust you to be to stubborn to die, Spartan." the Arbiter said with amusement.

"Likewise, Arbiter." He said with a nod.

The Elite split his mandabiles into a smile and placed his fist upon the left side of his chest with a slight bow to John that the other Elites followed.

"It is an honor to see you again, Spartan. The Alliance feared you lost after the end of the War with the Remnant."

John just shook his head.

"Didn't you know?" He asked, a small smile hidden by his helmet. "Spartans never die."

The Arbiter gave a throaty laugh at this and walked over and offered a hand to the Chief that the Human gripped firmly for a moment before the Arbiter looked around the room, his eyes resting upon Cortana and his smiled at her, giving her a bow as well.

"I see the construct is well. Our enemies are rather…fanatical about you. Seems a 'Reclaimer' has arrived and they fear that the end is near." He informed them with a hint of amusement.

This caused several eyes to flick to Cortana before the returned back to the Arbiter who merely looked back at them with interest.

"Well…let us begin, shall we?"

Xxxxxx

Naruto walked home with a new spring in his step and a smile a mile wide. He had been among the first to know about the new allies they were probably going to have through the fight. He knew Claudia knew as well, but right now, all he cared about was spending some time with his family. It was when he opened the door that he frowned. There was no one in the house. Odd. The blonde looked around and spotted a note on the table and picked it up and read it, feeling a little confused. Seems the girls were spending the night with a friend and Claudia was going to drop them off before returning with some important news for him. Naruto shrugged and went to the fridge and grabbed a soda before he plopped down on the couch and turned the TV on. He had a sudden wonder of how Lisa was doing seeing as she was six months along and was starting to show. Rick had told Naruto that it wasn't all it was hyped up to be. Naruto had heard about the mood swings and random cravings and wondered just how bad Claudia would be when they would be expecting. Those thoughts were banished as she returned home. Naruto greeted her at the door and both adults moved to the couch and sat down, with Claudia curling up next to him, head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. They stayed that way for a moment before she looked up at him.

"I want a baby."

The comment was blunt and caused Naruto to spray soda across the table. He coughed a few times before he was about to clear the soda out and wipped his dripping mouth and nose before he looked over at Claudia.

"Where'd this come from?" He asked.

She cocked her head to the side.

"What? You don't want to have a child with me?" She asked, genuinely hurt.

Naruto saw the hurt expression and gave her a small smile.

"I do want to have a family with you, it's just that your rather blunt tonight."

She sighed and pulled away, looking off into space as she recounted what had happened today.

"It's just…Arial and Scott are trying to have one. And my mother in pregnant with my little brother. And then we have the girls, who are ours, yes, but we don't have our own baby. I want to have a baby." She said as she hugged her midsection, a dreamy look on her face as she smiled.

Naruto used a single index finger to turn her face to his.

"If we think we're ready, we'll start trying. Agreed?"

Claudia nodded, smiling sweetly at him.

"Are we ready?" She asked him.

Naruto paused and thought about it and had to agree that they were ready. He couldn't deny that. So…he sent her a nod and a smile.

"I think we are."

He watched her smile become mischievous as she maneuvered herself onto his lap.

"Good. Let's make a baby." She whispered a she leaned in.

Naruto grinned as they broke the kiss moments later. He let her pull him to his feet and off to the bedroom, making sure to lock the door. It wouldn't do the girls any good to interrupt Mommy and Daddy having fun, now would it?

Xxxxx

Randall was not very happy at the moment, but niether was he mad. Confused was more like it as he listened to this Elite…the Arbiter…explain how the Alliance was formed. Apparently, after the Chief had vanished, the Elites, Grunts, Engineers, and most of the Hunters had formed a peaceful alliance with humanity and it had been fruitful. Humanity managed to recover from the blow it had been handed. The only threat they had was from the remaining Covenant Remnant. Brutes, Drones, Prophets, Jackals, and some Hunters. The war was going well, mainly due to the more powerful vessels that the Alliance had. Hell, they'd learned that all Alliance ship's had shielding meaning that Human built ships could now slug it out with ships of equal tonnage with out being slaughtered by the first round of plasma rounds. And every one in the UNSC knew that MACs, while primitive compared to the plasma based weaponry the Covenant had, they were very effective against shielded targets. And now, they were even deadlier. No…what bothered him was the fact that he was on his own. It irked him that he had for one, lost so much time, and two, he found out most if not all his brothers and sisters were gone.

"_Kelly."_ He thought sadly of her.

They'd been more than friends, he knew that. If he looked for the right word…she was his girlfriend. And now, she was gone. He had no way of knowing is she was alive or dead…or anything. And it irked him because he hated not knowing.

Xxxxxx

John listened to the Arbiter, who recounted what had happened since he had left.

"So. How'd you get here?" He asked the Elite.

"Your ONI discovered an energy surge in the portal as I was thrown out of it. Once they analyzed it, they discovered that the surge was very similar to the energy patterns of the Forerunners teleporters. Your Lord Hood pushed for them to look deeper, find someway to recreate what happened and see if you were indeed alive. But they denied his request. They stated that it would be foolish to waste the resources on a one way trip instead of concentrating on rebuilding. And that was the end of that. Twenty years later, I approached them about leading a fleet to investigate. They considered it and gave it the approval. With that, we began our work. It took fifteen years to finally get the portal in Voi to create the same energy spike. We went through and found ourselves in this reality. That was close to ten years ago." The Arbiter finished.

John mulled this over and figured it fit what Cortana had told him and it proved she was right. He looked up to Rick who nodded before he turned to the Arbiter.

"Arbiter. What brings you here now?" The Admiral inquired.

The Elite paused before responding.

"We have been watching those you call the Haydonites. The way they act is…similar to a certain Forerunner AI we have dealt with before." He looked pointedly at the Chief. "An old acquaintance of ours…"

John felt his stomach drop like a rock as fury began to build up inside of him.

"Spark." He hissed.

The Elite nodded.

"One in the same. He is using two races of machines to complete his goal."

John gave the slightest movement of the head.

"What is that? And who is this other races of machines?"

"He wishes to find the Halos and fire them."

John wanted to not believe what he had been told, but he couldn't. It made sense. Rick and the others all knew what Halo was and what it was meant for, along with how it operated. They'd already sent a small recon forces to the coordinates that Cortana had given them. They hadn't reported anything in the area they had been given, but that didn't mean they weren't floating around out there…somewhere.

"And this other race?" Rick asked.

"They are called…if my memory serves…Cylons. And they are wagging a War of genocide against a group of Humans."

Before anyone could speak, the com chirped.

"Admiral Hunter here."

"_Sir. We're in orbit of Tirol. The Council wishes to speak with you immediately. Also, Commander Dana Sterling has found some kind of ancient ruins on the surface."_

Rick was a little curious and let his curiosity get the better of him.

"Any images?"

"_Only one. Transmitting it now."_

There was a pause before the display in the room kicked on showing a rather strange symbol. He heard Cortana gasp and saw the Chief tense slightly.

"That's…that's a Forerunner symbol!" Cortana exclaimed.

John turned to Rick and the Admiral could feel the intensity coming off the man.

"Sir. They cannot open that hatch. No matte what."

"Why?" He asked.

"We don't know if they stored flood here, sir. With your permission, I'd like to check the ruins myself to make sure their clean."

Before Rick could object or speak, Cortana turned and grabbed the collar of his armor.

"Are you crazy? That is the stupidest thing you have ever said! If that door is opened, we have no idea if we can seal it back!" She countered.

John grabbed her hand and pried it off his armor before looking down to her.

"Cortana. We have to. The Flood have to be eliminated. Randall and I will go down, clear the ruins. I suggest evacuating a one hundred mile radius of the ruins of all personnel, civilian and military. If the flood do escape, nuke the area. We can't risk them getting off this planet if they are here." He said as he looked at the Admiral.

The man nodded.

"Very well Master Chief. We'll play this your way."

"I will accompany you as will Rtas. He has been wanting to fight beside you for some time now."

John nodded and looked down at Cortana again to see tears in her eyes.

"I'll be back. I promise."

Cortana gave him a watery smile.

"You'd better." She stated as he turned and left.

Rick dismissed the room and everyone left as Cortana watched the Chiefs leave the room, her hand over her abdomen. Rick walked up beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He doesn't know, does he?" He asked quietly.

She shook her head.

"I just found out this morning when Doctor Grant did her check up of me. It did surprise me." She said with a smile as she continued to look at the closed door.

Rick chuckled.

"Well…we're able to detect that stuff a lot sooner now a days That's how Lisa knew three weeks before she would have, and did mind you, miss."

"I just wish I knew how to tell him."

Rick nodded his head.

"Well, you could always buy him a World's Greatest Dad mug. That's how Lisa told me."

Cortana giggled and followed the Admiral out of the room to speak with Lisa. She had to admit…the older woman knew a lot more than Cortana did and could help her out a lot.

Xxxxx

John rechecked his rifle and looked up at Randall who was simply staring at the bulkhead. John knew him well enough to know what was wrong.

"Don't worry about it. I had the same reaction you did. Though…I actually had a pistol shoved into the Arbiter's mouth before Johnson stopped me."

Randall smiled inside his armor and visibly relaxed.

"It was a bit shocking is all. To me, I just fought them on Dwarka last week. Don't worry John. I can adapt to this. Besides…the Elites were tough bastards for us to face down. Imagine what any enemy we have here will react to them as the Elites tear into them."

John nodded his head in agreement and brought the Pelican in and landed her with ease outside the cavern the REF had under heavy guard. John and Randall exited the Pelican after John locked the controls down and headed for the entrance, rifles in hand as a Phantom approached from behind them. John watched as it hovered and dropped a dozen Elites, including Rtas and the Arbiter. The two caught up with them as they moved foreward, the other Elites waiting at their landing zone. John watched as a woman short blonde hair and a com unit on her head greeted them.

"Welcome to my own little slice of hell boys." She said as she motioned for them to follow her.

"What's the situation?" John asked.

"We have the area under lock down once the Admiral ordered us too. It's pretty much a ghost town from here to a hundred miles out in any direction. Only living things left are all of us here." She said as she gestured to the tanks all pointing their cannons as a section of crumbled rock wall, revealing a hatch that the Chief recognized as Forerunner.

"Understood. You and your team need to pull back once we're inside. The Elites will stay back near the entrance to make sure nothing but us gets out."

Dana nodded.

"I know. The Admiral told me what may be in there. To be honest, I'd rather leave it sealed, but he says you know your stuff. Well, good luck, Master Chief. You and your team may need it."

John watched as she headed over to her team and relayed her orders. He turned to the other two with him and laid out the plan.

"The Arbiter and I will take point. Randall will be with the Shipmaster. You two will need to be alert and watch our six. Will use the squad wedge formation to keep adequate fire to all sides. Understood?" He asked.

Everyone nodded and they headed for the hatch. John paused and glanced over at the Commander. She gave the briefest of nods and opened the door. John raised his rifle and stepped through the hatch.

Xxxxx

The four beings kept their selves alert as they moved deeper and deeper into the facility. John wondered how much longer the hallway would be when they came upon a bend in the hall. They followed it and came upon a single door. John looked behind him and the others nodded. He took a deep breath and moved into the room, MA5C raised as he scanned the room. The others entered and were confused by what they saw. It was a huge room with angled walls and blue lighting. John had to admit that it looked very similar to the ground floor of the shield towers from the Ark. The moved further in and stopped at a large opening. In the center of the room was a large raised platform with two ramps leading up to it on opposite sides. John looked up and aimed his rifle as a blue glow began to emanate from a hole in the ceiling. The others began to look around, weapons raised as sounds of machinery began to reach them. Randall scanned his area with his M90, while Rtas gripped his plasma rifles tightly as the Arbiter kept his Carbine shouldered. John kept his MA5C trained on a blue ball like object in a cage came and hovered in front of him.

"Greetings! I am 323 Appeal to Reason. I am the Monitor of Installation 89. How may I help you, Reclaimer?" It asked in a cheery voice.

John had to wonder if all Forerunner AI's sounded like this.

"State the purpose of this facility."

The Monitor responded quickly.

"This facility is one of several exit points for the Shield installations. They are meant as a transit station between universes. However, due to unexpected complications at the transmitting stations, I am unable to make a bridge between the universes."

The Chief nodded his head in understanding.

"What is the status of this station?"

"It is working at one hundred percent capacity. Currently, I have fifteen life forms logged in and awaiting transit."

"Can you complete the transit?" He asked.

The AI seemed to almost chuckle, but it seemed to be more at the question than John.

"Yes. However, as I stated earlier, due to unexpected complications between the subverses required for transit between universes, I am unable to make a connection to the prime stations. It will require a moment to transfer them. The equipment, while well cared for, has not been used in some time." It told him.

John had come to the conclusion that this AI was stable and decided to give it a chance. John and the others moved to the point where they could see what was happening under the upside down V-like structure in the center of the room. The air seemed to waver and bend as energy rippled through the air. After a sudden blinding flash, fifteen beings appeared in the center of the room. Five grey pods and ten people stood in shock for a split second. Eight of them, fully armored, raised weapons and began to scan for threats while a man with a Senior Chief rank had his pistol out, looking for threats as well. A single woman looked directly at John and straightened her glasses with a smile before pointing him out the Senior Chief. The man's eyes buldge slightly before John activated his com and whistled a simple six note tune. The armored eight slowly looked to John and slowly lowered their weapons. John noticed a difference as he scanned over the Spartans in front of him. Three were in MK VI armor while the other five…he didn't recognize their armor but he did notice that it had a similarity to the EVA system they had. John slowly swiped two fingers across his helmet that they returned. The woman stepped foreward and stopped outside arms reach and smiled.

"Always there when I need you."

"You know me. When I make a promise…"

The woman smiled.

"You keep it. It's good to see you, John." She looked around him and her eyes widened as Rtas and The Arbiter stepped foreword, weapons lowered.

The pair gave her a small bow out of respect, before the Arbiter spoke.

"It is an honor to meet the one who came up with the Spartans." He spoke, his deep voice reflecting his respect for the woman.

Doctor Halsey gave him a nod as Rtas looked at the Senior Chief.

"Hmm…I recognize you, human. Your one of the trainers of the Spartans. You must indeed be a strong warrior to train such well trained and honorable warriors." He said, giving the man an approving nod.

Senior Chief Mendez looked at him and gave him a brief nod before Doctor Halsey looked over at the Spartan next to the Chief. Her smile spread slowly as she crossed her arms.

"Well…I guess this is a day for reunions. It's good to see you, Randall. It's been awhile."

The Spartan nodded.

"Yes ma'am. I got a little lost on my way home and some nice people dropped me off in an even worse neighborhood."

She shook her head and looked back to John.

"Ma'am. We need to get back to the Pioneer. Admiral Hunter will want to speak with you and brief you on our current situation. To quote an ancient movie line…We're not in Kansas anymore."

Before she could ask more, the Monitor floated down and seemed genuinely cheerful.

"Greetings! Greetings! I am 323 Appeal to Reason! I am the monitor of Installation 89 transit hub. I am sorry I was unable to transfer you to a prime station, but due to subverse complications, I am unable to make any connection." He said, with regret in his normally cheery voice.

Doctor Halsey cocked an eyebrow before she looked back to John.

"That does answer a few questions. Well, let's go meet the admiral." She said.

* * *

Squad Formation Wedge: 1)Permits good control. 2) Provides all-security. 3) Formation is flexible. 4) Fire is adequate in all directions. Looks like this:

zzzzzzzzzz[ M ]zzzzzzzzz

zzzzz[ A ]zzzzzz[ S ]zzzzz

zzzzzzzzzz[ R ]zzzzzzzzz

Key: M=Master Cheif, A=Arbiter, S=Shipmaster Rta 'Vadum, R=Randall


	20. Chapter 20: New Players

Chapter 20 New Players

Rick looked at the woman with a blank expression on his face. This woman had been brought up an hour ago and had been in a meeting with him and some of the other senior officers including Lisa. At the end of the her story Rick stood on his feet. He knew the Spartans were waiting outside the door and if he didn't say this in the right way, he may very well be facing ten angry Spartans. H suppressed a shudder at that idea.

"Doctor Halsey. I can understand why you did what you did, but I can not Condon what you have done to innocent children. What you did was inhumane, immoral, and unethical. If you were apart of the REF or the UEG, I'd have you thrown in the brig for this." He heard movement on the other side of the door and had a guess that some one had tensed and the Marines were wondering if they'd be able to stop the Spartans, "But your not and there for you do not fall under my jurisdiction. We will be watching you, though."

Doctor Halsey nodded as Rick began to dismiss the room before looking back at her, with a small smile.

"Oh. And there is some one who wants to meet you, by the way. Send her in." He ordered.

Halsey cocked her head to the side in confusion before turning to the door. She watched as John, minus his helmet, and a young attractive woman entered the room and stopped before her. Now, Catherine Halsey was an intelligent woman. What she saw blew all logic out the window. Right now, she thought she was looking into the past. Her doppelganger gave her an uneasy smile as she gripped John's armored hand, partly sliding behind him.

"Um…I guess 'Hi Mom' would be appropriate."

Doctor Halsey smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes. I do believe it would. It has been a while, Cortana."

John cleared his throat to get both women's attention.

"I suggest we take this conversation to our quarters. I'd go myself, but I need to speak with Fred about a few things."

Cortana nodded and grabbed the front of his armor, pulling him down into a kiss. Doctor Halsey smiled at the sight because John was allowing himself to be pulled around by her. The two broke apart and John replaced his helmet and headed for Bay 10 that would become the Spartans ready area as Cortana looked uneasily at her mother.

"Well…shall we?" She asked.

Doctor Halsey nodded and the pair headed down the corridor in silence as they headed to the room John and Cortana shared. She just wondered what she was going to tell her Mother.

Xxxxx

Naruto and the rest of his squadron had drawn CAP duty. It's not that he hated it, it's just that it was boring. Nothing to do but float around in space and look for any threats to the _Pioneer_ and her battle group. The blonde gave a sigh as he brought his fighter around to pass by the bridge. Claudia wasn't on shift, so he just flew by it with out doing anything to draw attention to himself. He was idly day dreaming about his fiancée and grinned as he thought of her. A loud beeping brought him out of his stupor and he opened the com to reveal a female officer he couldn't the name to.

"Commander Uzumaki. We've got an energy surge of our port bow. About ten kilometers out. Request a flyby on the area, over."

"Roger. We'll check it out."

"Understood. Keep us informed. Bridge out."

Naruto called in his squadron and they headed to the given coordinates. Naruto began to wonder what was so big out here when a sudden flash of bright light caused him to look away. His console immediately started blaring a collision warning. Naruto looked up to see grey, pock marked metal in front of him. He yank his stick back, screaming as he did and he barely managed to get his craft parallel to the…thing. He looked back and saw that Baker wasn't pulling up fast enough.

"Baker! Pull up! Pull up!" He ordered.

"I can't! Electronics are fried! I got no control!"

"Punch out! Damn it Baker, that's an order!"

"It's not responding! AAAGGGG-" Static cut his voice off.

Naruto watched as the veritech smashed into the things hull. Naruto ordered his squadron to break away from the new target and watched as the ships in the battle group began to angle themselves in on the new comer. Naruto opened his com.

"Bridge. We've lost Baker."

Their was silence on the com before they responded.

"Understood. Stand by why we try to figure out who they are."

Naruto snapped off his com and held his position as did the rest of his squadron. All weapons were aimed at this newcomer who took one of their own. And everyone was just waiting for them to make a wrong move.

Xxxxx

The CIC was in ruins. Support beams had fallen with conduits shoot sparks. The great ship shuddered as she drifted through space, blind. DRADIS was down, so were most of the external sensors. Engines misfiring as the beings inside slowly and shakily rose to their feet, some sporting wounds, others looking a little worse for wear.

"XO. Sitrep. Damage report." Adama ordered

"Sir." Colonel Tigh responded.

He made sure his wife was okay before he headed for the nearest console and began looking through the report. A few seconds later, he answered.

"We're mostly here. Life support. Engines." He turned from the console and walked back to the lower level of the CIC, his voice grave as he continued his report. "There's redlines through her lateral structural members."

He stopped at the master display of the CIC, his face grim.

"She's broke her back. She'll never jump again."

Adama looked around the CIC.

"Where ever we are, is where we're going to stay."

The President looked to the blonde pilot that had managed to jump them away from the doomed Cylon asteroid.

"Where have you taken us, Kara?" She asked.

The pilot had no response but didn't need one as the DRADIS started to paint contacts on it. Adama looked to Tigh who simply nodded.

"Launch all fighters. Let's see if we can see what we've got out there."

The CIC was a buzz of activity as those that could still stand and work jumped to their tasks. Vipers that they had left were launched and sent out to provide some protection for the badly wounded Battlestar. Tigh himself was busy trying to get the batteries they had left manned and ready while Adama watched the DRADIS intently as it displayed the UNKNOWN CONTACTS across itself. A beep caught his attention and he turned to his own com. All eyes in the CIC stared at it as it beeped again. Adama slowly picked it up and put it to his ear and spoke.

"This is Rear Admiral William Adama. Commander of the Battlestar Galactica. Identify yourself."

A voice came back through the com, calm and level.

_"This is Vice Admiral Richard Hunter. Commanding officer of the SDF-3 Pioneer. What is your business in this system?"_

Adama didn't have to look up to see the confusion on the crews face. Even Tyrol, who had remained where he fell, rose with a hint of curiosity.

"Admiral. To be blunt. We don't even know where the frak we are." He responded.

The voice came back, but with some amusement.

_"Well. You in the Tirol system, in the middle of my fleet with fighters deployed. I'd be willing to come over to discuss some things with you, namely repairs since it looks like your ship is going to tear itself in two."_

Adama was not one to take things at face value and Tigh was glad that he didn't this time.

"I will allow you to come aboard. I look forward to meeting you."

_"As will I. Hunter out."_

Adama put the com down and simply stayed where he was while Tigh looked at him with confusion.

"Bill. What the frak are you doing? This could be a Cylon trap for all we know! Gods damn it, Bill! Your making a bigger mess out of this."

"Saul. We're dead in the water. If they are who they say they are and can help us, any risk we take seems to be worth it." He told him.

"I agree with the Admiral. We have no other option here." The President input.

Tigh sighed.

"Fine. Damn it, fine. But I will be putting guards near any sensitive areas."

Adama smiled.

"That is perfectly understandable. I think we should go meet our guest in the hangers."

Xxxxx

John, Kelly, Fred, Randall, Rick, and a few Marines sat inside the Pelican while Cortana and Doctor Halsey piloted the drop ship toward the vessel. John had his helmet linked to the external cameras and had to wonder how the wounded ship had managed to stay together as long as it did. They could see the ship flex with fires burning along the lateral hull with atmosphere venting in areas. The Starboard nacelle looked like it had an internal explosion from the way the metal was bent outward. The Spartans were all armed with MA5Cs, but each chose a different secondary weapon. The Chief chose to keep the energy sword while Fred settled on an M6G. Kelly took a pair of M7s while Randall opted for his M6D he brought with him, even though he had two clips of ammo for it. They waited patiently for the Pelican to landed and had to wait while they were lowered into the pressurized section of the ship. It took only moments before they were finished. John rose and opened the back hatch and stepped out first, and wished he hadn't.

Xxxxxx

Adama waited as the lift lowered the strange green ship. It was an odd design, but he wasn't going to complain if they could help him and his crew. But he was not expecting what happened next. A massive green armored being holding a strange rifle stepped off the ship and looked over at him, his golden reflective visor hiding it's face. Adama heard a hiss of _"Cylon!" _before a gunshot rang across the bay. The round seemed to hit some sort of energy field and didn't seem to stop the being one bit. It had already dropped to one knee, rifle leveled as three others appeared around the first one, rifles in hand and raised as well.

"Whoa! Stand down!" A voice called out.

Adama watched as a man in a strange uniform stepped off the drop ship, hands in the air. He walked in front of the armored beings and smiled at Adama.

"That is a hell of a greeting. Good thing I wasn't the first off the ship." He said, trying to break the tension in the bay.

Adama stepped forward.

"I apologize. We just been through a very tough fight and everyone is still on edge."

Rick nodded his head in understanding.

"That does explain the damage. But hell. We've worked with worse on Earth." He paused and saw the reaction of the people around him.

"What?" He asked.

Adama placed a hand on Laura's shoulder as she let out a sharp gasp.

"Did you say, 'Earth'?" She asked.

The man nodded.

"Yes ma'am. I'm from a small town in New Jersey originally, but I traveled a lot as a child with my Dad." He told them.

Adama gave the man a smile.

"I think we should introduce ourselves."

The man chuckled.

"Where are my manners?" He came to attention and gave a crisp military salute. "Vice Admiral Richard Hunter. Commander of the SDF-3 Pioneer. Robotech Expeditionary Force. Request permission to come aboard, sir."

Adama came to attention as well and rendered a crisp salute to his counterpart.

"Rear Admiral William Adama. Commander of the Battlestar Galactica. Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Permission granted, Admiral."

Rick stepped forward and grasped the man's hand briefly before looking around.

"Yard dogs are going to have fun fixing this. Until the tugs arrive to pull her into space dock, is there anything else we can help you with?" Rick asked.

"My people need medical treatment. Also, I need to send a ship to rendezvous with the rest of our fleet."

"We can send one of ours, if need be." Rick offered.

Adama shook his head.

"No need. We have jump capable ships. We'll bring them here."

Rick nodded his head in understanding.

"Very well. But I'd like to request that any personnel you have that need medical attention be taken to our infirmary. Also, when it's convenient for you, I'd suggest that you let our Doctors check over your crew as well."

Adama nodded. He had an idea who would be the first to go over.

"Admiral. I would like President Roslin to accompany you back to your ship for any treatment you have for cancer."

Rick nodded before looking at the president who glared at the Adama.

"Ma'am. I can safely say that you'll be perfectly fine once Doctor Grant is done. She's the best there is."

Roslin sighed and nodded.

"Very well. If it will make my people happy, I'll see your doctor."

Before anymore pleantries could be exchanged, the sounds of gunfire reached their ears. A marine was suddenly hurled through the hatch and shortly after, Centurions stormed into the bay, arms raised as they began to spray rounds at the humans assembled. Adama pulled the president down and to cover as Rick and Tigh pulled put side arms and hurried to cover. The unlucky marines that couldn't reach cover were killed as they attempted to defeat the intruders. Adama kept his head down, but looked up as four green beings leapt over him.

Xxxxxx

John and the Spartans vaulted clean over the crates and moved quickly. Randall dropped to one knee and fired off his shotgun, dropping one of the Centurions as it tired get to the humans behind the cover. Kelly leapt forward and planted her feet on the Cylons chest, M7s firing into it's head. Fred himself had sidestepped the Centurion in front of him and slammed his fist through it's head. He yanked his arm back and let the body drop to the deck. He looked to see John and was amazed at what he saw. John moved forward and grabbed the Cylon by the wrist, holding it's weapon pointed at the overhead and fired his MA5C into it's chest. The thing seemed to absorb the rounds before falling to the deck sparking. A second target slapped his rifle from his hands, but John pulled the energy sword into action and slashed him in half. He looked to his right and saw Randall rip one of the centurions arms off and put it through a second one before hurling said arm at one if the charging Cylons. John ducked under a vicious swipe and shoved the blade in and up, bisecting the Cylon. Kelly moved forward and put another out of commission with a stream of hot lead. Randall had switched back to the shotgun and had destroyed another while Fred began to use his combat knifes, his rifle out of reach and his pistol nowhere to be seen. John grabbed his own rifle and dropped another target with a steady stream of lead. After several minutes of pure combat, the bay fell silent as the Spartans searched for targets. John had an MA5C in each hand, scanning for targets. Kelly had Randall's M90 out with an SMG, while Fred had both knives out and Randall had his M6D coupled with an M7 that Kelly had. John looked back to Rick who nodded. The Spartans headed back to the group where John approached the Admiral.

"Sir. Request permission to have Team Katana to meet with us." He asked Adama.

"For what purpose?" He asked before realizing something else. "Just who are you anyway?"

"Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra 117. Spartan II super soldier."

"And this Team Katana?"

"Spartan IIIs. All that remain of Gama Company."

Adama paused.

"And what will you…Spartans do?"

"Search and destroy on hostile forces."

Adama looked to Rick who grinned.

"The Chief and his men are the best I have ever seen. They are capable of a lot more than what you just saw."

Adama looked back to the Chief and though he looked like some sort of demigod. He sighed.

"Very well. But I want a team of Marines with you at all time."

The Chief nodded.

"That is acceptable." The Chief stated and he and his Spartans headed over and began looking over the mangled Cylons as Rick helped the President into the Pelican.

Adama looked back to Rick.

"Take car of her."

Rick nodded and smiled.

"She'll be back, good as new."

Xxxxxx

Doctor Halsey sat across from Cortana who was staring off into space. It didn't escape the Doctor's notice that she had her hand over her abdomen.

"So…you and John are together I take it."

Cortana blushed and nodded, not speaking. Her mother still hadn't said if she was mad or proud of Cortana for becoming human. The good doctor was currently looking over the pad and she finished with a nod.

"Well…I can say that I am proud that you didn't break any moral or ethical boundaries. Granted, some would counter this, but you did no harm."

Cortana let out a relieved sigh and looked back to her mother.

"Thanks. I…I just…"

Doctor Halsey smiled, knowing where she was going.

"You wanted some one else to say it."

Cortana nodded.

"So…when is the wedding?" She asked casually.

Cortana blushed and looked at her mother who was simply sipping her tea.

"We…haven't gotten that far yet." She stated.

Halsey cocked an eyebrow.

"How long have you two been together? Romantically that is."

Cortana paused and thought about it.

"Little under a month. It took a while for the SDF to finish re-supply operations before we left one of the Alliance supply ports after we were picked up."

The Doctor nodded before bringing up her pad that suddenly beeped. She looked over it before she smirked at Cortana.

"When are you going to tell him?" She asked.

Cortana's eyes widen as she looked to her mother with shock.

"How'd you…?" Her eyes narrowed at the pad.

Doctor Halsey chuckled.

"Yes. I just did a passive scan and it detected elevated hormone levels, among other indicators of pregnancy."

Cortana covered her face with her hands muttering about intruding mothers and where they should stick their scanning pads, causing Doctor Halsey to laugh. She placed a hand on Cortana's shoulder, making the younger woman to peek through her hands.

"I'm sure he'll be excited. But you know him."

Cortana nodded and lowered her hands smiling.

"He'll be a good father." She stated.

Catharine nodded and together, they began discussing things about babies and weddings, making Cortana feel like she finally was human.

Xxxxx

Randall sat in the bay, his armor in a diagnostic cycle when his hatch opened and Kelly entered the room, her brown hair pulled back into a simple ponytail. She sat down across from him and waited for him to speak. After a moment of silence, he did.

"Kelly. I'm sorry."

She nodded her head and gave him a smile.

"I understand what happened. John told us what happened. And I can't blame you."

Randall returned her smile.

"He also told me you were waiting on me. That true?" He asked.

She grinned and nodded her head. Randall gestured to the seat next to him. She rose and sat down beside him, laying her head on his shoulder. He could feel the tears as they fell from her eyes.

"I'm glad your back."

And for once, Randall was truly happy that he was back.

Xxxxxx

Cortana waited for the Chief to come home from his debrief with Rick. Apparently, they had managed to locate and kill the remaining Cylons on board. And they had towed the Battlestar into dock where it was undergoing extensive repairs. She had also heard that Admiral Hunter had ordered that non-humans should stay away from the colonials for the time being. They had their fleet docked with the only fully human crewed station in orbit of Tirol and the civilians were extremely grateful for their assistance. She was broken from her thoughts before the door opened and John entered. He stopped when he saw her sitting on the couch. He looked at her in confusion.

"John. I have something to tell you." She said calmly.

"What is it?" He asked.

She tossed him the mug in her hands that he caught. He cocked his head in confusion as she motion for him to read it. On the front it read: Galaxy's Greatest Dad. He slowly looked from the mug to her, back to the mug, then back to her, his face blank.

"Your sure?" He asked.

She nodded her head.

"I'm one month today. Congratulations John. Your going to be a father."

Xxxxxx

Doctor Halsey answered her com unit as she tore her eyes away from the SPI armor schematics she had in front of her.

"Doctor Halsey."

"_Mom?"_

She blinked and smiled, still getting used to that title.

"What is it?"

"_I told John."_

Now she was interested.

"How'd he take it?"

There was a pause before Cortana responded.

"_He fainted."_

Her laughs could be heard by those who passed her door that night.


	21. Chapter 21: Sorrow Knows No Bounds

Chapter 21 Sorrow Knows no bounds

Naruto woke the next morning and notice that Claudia was not home, but he did see a note on his bed side table explaining that she had to go in early for a meeting. He sighed and rolled out of bed and got dressed before heading out of his cabin for his morning run. What surprised him was to see the Chief also out on a run as well. The Blond pilot caught up to him with relative ease and gave him a curt nod. Both men continued on and ended up running a three mile loop, ending back where the Chief had started. Naruto, while a stamina freak, had to admit that the pace set was insane. He was breathing heavy and sweat dripped off his body as he fought to catch his breath. At least the chief was in not much better shape as he was trying to run for different reasons. Naruto finally managed to get his breathing under control.

"Damn Chief. I haven't worked this hard since I was thirteen and pranked Admiral Hunter."

The Spartan looked to him with some surprise.

"What did you do?"

Naruto grinned.

"Rewired his electric razor to give him a shock every time he tried to use it. He had me work out with the Marines for a week. That was a nightmare. Never meet some one so gung ho as Marines." He muttered.

John nodded.

"Most are. I had the privilege to serve beside a hell of a Marine who recently was killed during my previous assignment."

Naruto gave him a brief nod.

"I bet with you saying that, it would have meant a lot to him."

John blinked but nodded. Naruto however, noticed something was wrong.

"What's going on Chief?" He asked.

It appeared he was trying to decide if he should tell or not and settled on talking about it.

"Cortana's pregnant."

Naruto grinned and all fatigue was forgotten as he clasped the man on his shoulder.

"Congrats man. Hell, me and Claudia are expecting as well. So I guess we both get to ask the other for help, huh?" He said with a grin.

John seemed to have an amused look.

"I guess so. I don't mean to cut this short, but I have a meeting with one of the people that just arrived, a Major Lee Adama. They have crew members disappearing and are refusing to have their ship towed in until they are sure it is cleared of Cylons."

Naruto nodded.

"Alright Chief. I won't hold you hear any longer. Just remember, I'm here if you ever want any advice."

He watched the Spartan leave and headed back to his room and showered the sweat from his body and shivered once he stepped out of the shower. The Ace pilot got himself dressed and left his room to see his girls heading off to school. Naruto raised a hand in fare well that they returned and he headed to the flight deck to meet up with his squadron. It was time for the funeral detail.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Detail. Attention." Naruto barked as the flag draped casket was lowered onto the ejection port.

"We are hear today, to pay last respects to Tomas Baker. He was a pilot of extraordinary luck and courage, always putting his comrades before himself. He was taken from us due not to any fault on his part, but due to a systematic failure from an electronic overload. But no matter the cause, we still lost a brother out there. But we will live on, for that is what he would have wanted us to do. We will remember are friend. Detail…Left face."

Naruto turned to his right as the platoon turned left.

"Present…Arms!"

Everyone in the launch bay snapped a crisp salute and held it, watching as two men took the UEG flag off the casket and folded it before giving it to Bakers' mother, who happened to be in attendance. They watched as the casket was sealed inside the launcher before it was ejected into space in a poof of white.

"Order…Arms."

Naruto dismissed his pilots and turned to face Baker's mother, who was crying as Chris tried his best to comfort her.

"Ma'am. I'm Lieutenant Commander Uzumaki. I was Tom's squadron commander. I want to apologize for my failure." He said gravely.

She shook her head, tears still falling.

"No. It wasn't your fault. You could not have foreseen that would happen."

Naruto simply stood in front of the woman, expecting a slap or even curses.

"That maybe true ma'am, but I shouldn't have put my men so close to an anomaly. In essence, it is my fault." He said sadly.

The woman placed a hand on his shoulders.

"I already talked to Chris about that. You were with in regulation distance. You have no fault here. Now, if you'll excuse me Commander, I must be getting back home."

Naruto nodded.

"Of course. Good day, to the both of you."

Naruto watched them leave and sighed as he made his way to his room. He still had CAP detail to run today.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto brought his fighter around once more as he looped past the vessel that looked ready to fall apart. The worst part was, he could see the exact spot that Baker crashed into. He tore his eyes away from the hull and applied a little more thrust to his fighter and came around by the bridge, keeping on alert. After several hours of flying circles, Naruto was wishing something would happen to take his boredom away. He would regret this not moments later. His com became a buzz of activity.

"New contacts! Ten thousand meters out!"

Naruto looked up and had no idea what these ships looked like. They looked like some sort of creature. They had six arms, three extending from the top, and three from the bottom, of central portion. Their was at least a dozen of them. Naruto brought his fighter around and rallied his squadron and they bared down on the new contacts. He wondered why they would jump in with in weapons range and then it hit him. They were after the Battlestar. If that was the case, than maybe the Battlestar couldn't hit targets that far out. Naruto pushed these thoughts aside as new chatter came across the com.

"This is Admiral Richard Hunter to the Unknown ships. What is your business here?"

There was silence, though Naruto took the sight of swarms of fighters as the signal that they weren't friendly. He gripped his controls and prepared himself. Naruto watched as very other ship in system above Tirol deployed fighters as well, leveling the playing field. Naruto activated his com.

"Lets get um!"

They tore off with the others and found themselves in a melee of combat. It was insanity with how many fighters were involved in this little dogfight. Naruto looped around and watched as what looked like a lawn dart blazed past him, destroying a enemy fighter with relative ease. The blonde shook he head and lead his sights on his target and left his lasers eat their way through the hull with relative ease.

"Blaze! There's too many! Use your SP weapons!"

Naruto saw that their were indeed a large number of contacts. The blonde shifted to battloid mode and let his missiles fly. Dozens of explosions appeared in the silent vacuum of space as Naruto racked up the kills.

"Not bad, but when you blast a target with three missiles apiece, it's not that hard to kill it." A voice stated bluntly as Naruto put his battloid's fist through another targets wing.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"Name's Starbuck. Got a problem blondie?" The voice asked.

"No. But the name is Blaze. And let's see how you fare against twenty boogies bareing down on you." He retorted.

He heard a laugh across the com but put his concentration back on the fight. He decided to try something that could very well get him killed. Naruto shoved his throttle forward and let go of his cannons. He flipped a switch, pulling the hands back inside the arm housings an instead, a flat piece with an opening took their place. Naruto activated the power to them and a pair of energy blades snapped into existence. Naruto moved nimbly through space, slicing his way through the enemy. He turned and saw one of the enemy capital ships trying to get a shot off at _Galactica_ and speed off to the target. He truly realized how big it was but didn't let that stop him as he moved in closed. He exchanged his right battloid blade for a hand and found a good purchase on the ship. Cutting quickly, he made a decent sized hole in it and found himself looked at a confused Centurion. Naruto wasted no time using the head mounted lasers and cut it down quickly. He took stock of what was in the center and was pleasantly surprised to see that he was looking at a core of some kind. The kind that would probably explode when shot. Naruto grinned and triggered his lasers again before kicking off from the ship. Unfortunately, he didn't escape the blast. The last thing he saw, were gold rings appearing around him and a deep voice.

"_This is not the end for you, young human. Oh no, you will not be as lucky to escape me in death. Our time has only just begun."_

It was a voice full of malice and evil. Of hatred and...insanity.

* * *

Who do you think the voice belongs too? And don't fret. I like this story too much to let it die. Also, this chapter focuses mostly on Naruto sonce most readers are wondering where he dissappeared to. Next chapter will deal with how Claudia and the girls will react to his apparent death. And we'll see what his captors look like...maybe.


	22. Chapter 22: Meeting Evil

Chapter 22

Meeting Evil

(WARNING (IN BIG **BOLD** LETTERS) **THIS CHAPTER CONATINS TORTURE AND SOME OF IT IS VERY GRUESOME. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED**)

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked around the barely lit room. He tried to move, but felt the straps holding him down. Naruto looked down on them in confusion. The last thing he remembered was being pulled from his cockpit by gold rings. He was suddenly fully alert when he heard a door open. Looking up, he saw what looked like the floating AI that they had picked up on Tirol, but this one looked damaged. Naruto cocked his head to the side as it floated over to him.

"Greetings Human. I am…The Awareness."

Naruto's eyes hardened.

"The leader of the Haydonites?"

The being seemed to nod.

"Yes. I lead them. So…I have a few questions for you that you will answer."

"I won't answer shit."

The thing seemed to pause before sighing.

"Ah…to be defiant. But it will not help you here. You _will_ tell me or you will face the consequences."

"Bite me."

He watched the AI's eye glow red before a beam of some sort shot out and hit him in the gut. He bit his lip so as to avoid the pain, but he could smell the burnt flesh.

"Each time you do not answer. That will happen. Now…Where is the human called Master Chief?"

"Lueitenenat Commander Uzumaki, Naruto. One zero one dash one nine dash two one one."

The AI shot him again, making Naruto wince and grunt as the AI shot him in the stomach.

"Where is the one you call the Master Chief? Tell me!"

"Lueitenenat Commander Uzumaki, Naruto. One zero one dash one nine dash two one one."

The AI shot him again, and again, and again for over an hour, eventually stopping long enough to observe the wound closing.

"Ah…a healing factor. Well. Now I know we can play this game a lot longer than normal for fear of not killing you. Now, please, answer the question. I dislike this sort of thing, but if you force my hand, I will take extreme measures." It warned him.

Naruto glared at it.

"Kiss…My…Ass…Tinkerbelle." Naruto spat.

His screams echoed through the otherwise silent halls.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Claudia sat with the girls as they waited for any news. She refused to go to work and the refused to go to school. There wasn't much that anyone could do. And Rick didn't want to force them, but they had found the VT and it wasn't pretty. The explosion looked like it had shattered the glass around the cockpit and there was a lot of blood on the seat, but Doctor Grant told him that it wasn't enough to account for a dead man, but since the suit was punctured, then it was a moot point. But even he had a hard time believing that he was dead. He push it aside and simply concentrated on the task at hand. He had to rally everyone for their final attack against the Haydonites.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto woke with a yelp as another beam slammed into him.

"Ah. Your awake. I must say. I am a genius!"

"Genius my ass." Naruto hissed.

The AI seemed to be enjoying itself.

"Oh. You'll see. I was simply thinking of an interesting method to get my information from you, since your body seems to heal at such an advanced rate. I wonder how far."

The being sent out a blue beam and Naruto cried out in pain, but it died in his throat when he saw what was floating in front of him. An organ! He looked down and saw his chest had been opened completely. He could see everything. He looked away, trying not to puck but hoping that it was just a horribly nightmare.

The being dropped the organ and hovered near his chest, apparently trying to decide which one to rip out next.

"You see, I figured that trauma to your body on the outside was usless. However, what if I attacked the inner portion? Surely you wouldn't be as resilient?"

"Piss off!"

"Oh…too bad. I as hoping to avoid this…but if I must."

Naruto screamed in pain again as another organ was pulled out of his body. He tried to breath but found that it was hard to do and that it hurt as well.

"You can survive with a single lung, so don't fret. Now, tell me what I wish to know. Where is the Master Chief?" He demanded, his eye red.

Naruto grinned, blood running down his chin.

"Yeah. I'll tell you."

The being seemed to change it's mood instantly.

"Splendid! I knew you would come around! Now…where is the Reclaimer?"

"Do you know…the muffin man?" Naruto asked.

The being cocked his head to the side.

"Is that a ship in your fleet? Quickly. What does this…Muffin Man look like so I may destroy it?"

Naruto smirked.

"It has around bas with a dome like top that extended over the base of it. And it's very large."

"This muffin man sounds like a space station! Where is it located?"

"In…the…Drury System. It's…pretty hard to miss."

The being pulled back and seemed to agree with itself before turning to Naruto.

"Your help is appreciated, however, you have outlived your usefulness. Good bye, human."

Naruto closed his eyes as he saw the thing look at where his heart was. He was sure he was dead when…

-x-x-x-x-x-

Claudia slowly made her way to her post. It had been weeks since Naruto had vanished. And her father had been forced to call off the search and listed him as Missing In Action. She never seemed to smile anymore except around the girls, and she never stayed at work longer than she needed to. But no one said anything because they too were missing the energetic blonde as much as she did.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto heard a strange sound followed by a startled outcry. He opened his eyes and saw the being facing…something. It seemed amused as it looked at the being who was red with anger. The being fired his weapon again, spearing the being with an energy beam again, this time, Naruto watched it explode in a shower of Sparks. Naruto looked at this new comer and wondered just who it was.

"Sorry I'm late. Cocky bastard just loves to run his mouth."


	23. Chapter 23: Independance

A/N: And now we come to the final battle. It will be epic! But this is only the first of several chapters for this fight, plus an epilogue. So we should finish with about thirty chapters. Anyway, enjoy! Oh, brownie points for anyone able to tell me where Rick got his speech from in ths chapter.

Chapter 22 Independence

Rick walked into the room and saw the assembled beings in the room and took his place at the table, pausing as he looked at each of them. The REF had been in system for a little over twelve hours now and it was now time for the meeting. Rick cleared his throat before he began.

"Gathered Delegates, I stand before you today with a fierce desire to defeat our mutual foe, the Haydonites, their Leader, and their allies. However, I must tell you that you must be willing to use every ship you have in your command, other wise we will fail."

He paused and let his words sink in to all the gathered beings. He glanced at his notes again before speaking.

"At 2230 universal time code, a deep space recon force discovered the homing beacon of a member of my crew believed to be dead. By attuning our subspace receivers, we have located the position of the Main Enemy fleet. At this time, they are located here," he pointed near the center of the map," Near the center of the galaxy. We only have one ship to have ventured out there and it has been confirmed that there are sufficient asteroids in size to house enemy shipyards, logistic centers among other facilities need to make war. Myself and several analysts have come up with a plan to destroy the enemy now."

The Praxian delegate spoke up.

"What is your plan?"

"We plan to lead a massive assault fleet the likes of which have never been seen in this galaxy. If you are willing to join us. If not, we will take all we have an strike them ourselves."

"How many ships are present at the target location?" One of the delegates asked.

Rick paused before answering.

"Close to five million total, with both Haydonite and their new allies congregated there. We estimate that the bulk of the number to be fighters with half that number being capital ships."

The room burst into an up roar before Rick gained control again.

"Please. Delegates. Calm yourselves. The Earth has faced far greater numbers and we have faced extinction multiple times. Also, the Invid are sending as many ships and fighters they have to aid us in the battle. Total, the REF with the Invid have only a quarter the number of capital ships and only two thirds the number of fighter."

"That's a suicide mission!" Some one yelled.

Rick nodded.

"That maybe so. But if the REF is annihilated, it will buy the rest of you time to prepare. Initial simulations show that at the minimum, half of the enemy main fleet will be destroyed. We will also conduct landing operations and take out their leader, throwing them into disarray." Rick said calmly.

One of the members, the Sangheili delegate looked at him thoughtfully.

"Human. I have fought your kind before. Never have I seen a race that was a stubborn as yours. But your willingness to fight no matter the odds is truly an honorable trait. We, the Sangheili will stand beside you in this fight." The Arbiter had spoken.

Rick nodded and after several minutes and several questions asked, it was unanimous.

The Alliance was mobilized for full War.

-x-x-x-x-x-

It took four days to fully mobilize every ship and fighter the Alliance had and to fully stock each and every ship. All in all, they number evenly with the Haydonites. But Rick was currently speaking with one Admiral Adama.

"Your going to attack?" He asked.

Rick nodded.

"Yes. We're pulling in every ship we can. If we don't end this now, then it will become war of attrition. And sadly, they have more numbers."

Adama looked at him thoughtfully.

"I can only offer the support of the _Galactica._ I've already talked with the President and she has agreed to allow us to accompany you."

Rick nodded.

"That is good news. The more firepower we can add in the equation, the better our odds."

"Any word on your missing pilot?"

Rick sighed.

"All we can tell is he is alive. And his beacon is right smack dab in their fleet."

"What's your plan of attack?"

"We'll jump in system on the edge and move deeper in. Intel shows only a few patrols and such in the area. Once we reach the second planet, that is when all hell breaks loose. Our fleet will engage the enemy space forces while the Master Chief and his team will drop planet side on the beacons location execute their mission." Rick explained.

"And what mission is that?"

"Kill the Awareness. By any means necessary."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto blinked at the newcomer with confusion. The newcomer cocked his head to the side.

"C'mon sir. We ain't got all day."

"Who are you?" He asked as he rose to his feet and followed the newcomer out of the room, his chest already closed thanks to his healing rate. The being didn't even face him as they ran.

"Johnson. Sergeant Major A. J. Johnson. Recently cloned, that is." He told him.

"Cloned?"

"Yeah. That bastard Spark was gonna try to use me against the Chief once he realized he was here. Thank God for the SPARTAN-I augmentations, otherwise, I'd be a mindless drone."

Naruto remained quiet as they hurried to a sealed off section that the man opened with ease and beckoned him in. Naruto ducked through the door and looked around. It looked like a temporary set up with a few racks placed around the room along with rations and other such needed items. The man removed his helmet, revealing his dark face and large grin.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Not much, but it does it's job." He said as he placed his weapon down and sat in a nearby chair.

Naruto followed suit and level his gaze at him.

"I think we need to talk."

"I'll answer best I can, sir. Ask away. We got plenty of time."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Rick was truly impressed. The Alliance fleet was truly impressive. He knew that the other admirals were giving speeches to their people, but Rick need fully interspecies cooperation.

"Open a channel to all Alliance ships."

A young ensign tapped a few controls before she nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good morning. In less than an hour, all alliance ships will be jumping to a point near the galactic center. And we will be launching the largest battle in this history of this galaxy. I know most of you would rather work alone, or have a distrust of other races. No more. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. You will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution--but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live, to exist. And should we win the day, generations will know that blood was shed to preserve the future, not just of humanity, or the Praxians, but of every sentient species. It will be a day that the Alliance as one voice cried out,_ 'We will not go quietly into the night!_ _We will not vanish without a fight!_ _We're going to live on!_ _We're going to survive!'_ Today, we claim our future!"

Rick could feel the power of the words as he looked around the bridge. The confidence and motivation throughout the fleet was sky high and still rising.

"All ships. Prepare for fold operations. Hunter out."

The com closed and he looked at his bridge crew who had admiration in their eyes.

"Alright, people. Let's get this started. One minute till fold." He ordered.

All around the bridge, crew jumped to action with the count down starting. Rick lowered himself into his seat. Time for all hell to break loose.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Alliance forces have been detected. Estimates put total strength at close to one million capital ships with close to triple that in fighters."

Spark, who had transferred his memory patterns into a new body looked over the data.

"All is as I have foreseen. Prepare all vessels. The destruction of the unclean shall commence."

His eye glowed red as he chuckled to himself. He would have his revenge.

-x-x-x-x-x-

_Galactica _completed her jump and immidatly went to flank speed, barreling down on the nearest Haydonite ship, ship to ship batteries flashing as she rained destruction on her target from her starboard guns, flying by it as a Sangheili cruiser gutted it with an energy projector. Adama had his eyes glued to the screen as the DRADIS tried to paint the targets, but sadly, they had never expected to encounter this many targets.

"Launch all vipers! Blow this bastards to whatever gods they fraking pray to." He ordered, his gravely voice heard throughout the CIC.

Vipers poured out of the launch tubes, knifing through the darkness, hunting for targets.

"_Galactic-actual, Talley Ho on bandits. One O'clock low. Moving to intercept."_ The voice of Starbuck sounded through the speakers.

"Understood. Take a few raiders out for us."

Her reply was drowned out by the appearance of a Cylon Basestar that seemed to want to finish what was started four years ago.

"Ah hell!" Tigh hissed.

"Bring those new ship to ship batteries on line. Target center mass."

Tigh grinned and relayed the order. Outside, the PBY-45 batteries locked into place and swiveled toward the Basestar. In a rapid fire barrage, the Basestar was blown in half before it was destroyed. Cheers were heard through out the CIC as Adama grimaced.

"One down, too many to count left."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"LAUNCH!"

Fighter after Fighter was shot off the deck of the SDF-3 and all REF vessels as the Invid Carriers deployed their own fighter. Rick himself had taken over as temporary leader for Fox Squadron.

"Alright. Form up, Fox, and stay close. This is going to get ugly."

He had no idea how true those words would be.

-x-x-x-x-x-

The _Shadow of Intent _blasted through the targets like they were tissue paper. A barrage of pulse laser fire felled the Cylon vessels, while three plasma torpedoes and a blast from the energy projector destroyed the more heavily armored Haydonite cruisers. But something caught the Shipmasters eyes. He rose from his seat, shock on his face.

"By the gods! A dreadnaught! Quickly, open a channel to the rest of our ships."

"Channel open, Shipmaster."

"All cruisers. Concentrate fire on the Dreadnaught. All destroyers, continue with operations."

Plasma seared through space, impacting on the ancient ships shields that seemed to hold. A return barrage destroyed one of the cruisers making the shipmaster clench his jaws.

"Damn! Return fire! Turn that hulk into a molten ball of metal."

The barrage intensified, but the Dreadnaught appeared undamaged.

"This will be an…interesting fight."

He had no idea.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Synchro cannons and missiles knifed through space as the enemy forces began to counter. One of the Haydonite ships charged and fired a beam of energy and was quickly followed by two of it's brethren. The SDF-3 and the SDF-4 took directs hits with the shields holding, but drained non the less. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Praxian frigate that took the blast and had it cut through it's shields, destroying the ship. This battle was far from over, yet it was just the begin of the final battle between the Alliance and the Machines…and it could go either way.


	24. Chapter 24: Here We Go

Chapter 24 Here We Go

The tiny transport shook violently as the Chief piloted it away from the old Battlestar. Behind him where the three other raptors carrying every SPARTAN they had, including the S-III's. John had reservations about bringing them, but Lieutenant Fred had insisted, telling him that they would be an asset on the mission. After John looked few a couple of their mission debriefs, he agreed. He pulled himself out of the memory and shoved the throttle forward and dived under a hulk that had drifted into his flight path. A quick twist port and he avoided an incoming plasma round. John did seriously not like this. He wasn't a fighter pilot God Damn it! A counter appeared on his HUD.

"Strap in. This is going to get hot." He barked to the passenger compartment.

The sounds of buckles clicking were lost on him as he concentrated on his counter. When it hit zero, he mashed the FTL button and his raptor vanished in space, only to appear over the planets surface at a few meters above the ground. John was thankful that the inertia they had kept them airborne before the Raptor got a decent up lift on its stubby little wings.

"Spartan flight. Close up and form on me. We're little over two kilometers out from the objective."

They radioed their responses as they entered a canyon that would provide them with some cover. John, however, was frowning. There had been no contact. No signs of enemy defenses. Something wasn't right. He got his answer in the form of anti aircraft batteries. They had them hidden underground and had waited for the four Raptors to enter into the turkey shoot before they activated. John cursed and tightened his hold on the stick, trying to keep the wounded bird in the air as it belched black smoke from the port engine.

"Mayday! Mayday! Sierra one one seven reporting active triple a. We're hit. Ah…We are so going down!"

The Raptor slammed into the deck at close to a hundred clicks an hour. The crash tore nasty cut into the surface for twenty meters. The Raptor however, was no longer flyable. The structural damage to it was beyond the repair means they had. John shook his head and grabbed his rifle, a BR-55.

"Alright. Sound off!" John ordered.

"I'm alright. My head broke my fall." Randall muttered as he rose to his feet, gripping his MA5C.

"I'm fine. Just wish that landing was a bit smoother." Fred nodded to the Chief.

"I'm still alive." Kelly gripped her sniper rifle tightly.

"Alright. Let's gather up our gear and head out. We've got two kilometers to cross to the objective."

The SPARTANs grabbed their extra weapons. John settled on a pair of SMGs while Randall seemed to want an M90. Kelly snagged a BR and Fred totted the SPARTAN Laser. John could just sense the grin off his old friend. With a nodded, John turned and kicked the door open, throwing it away from the ship at tremendous speed. The Spartan-II soldiers made their way over to the remainder of Gamma Company who were dressed in MJOLNIR-MK VI armor for the first time in their career. Ash walked over to the Chief.

"All S-IIIs accounted for Master Chief. Lucy has Team Katana with her, securing the perimeter. Our ride is shot, however. Both engines are flamed out."

John nodded.

"Understood. Gather up your SPARTANs and let's get ready to move. Our enemies won't give us time to lick our wounds."

Ash nodded.

"Yes Master Chief."

The SPARTAN-IIs moved to the Chief and waited. They didn't have to wait long before the S-IIIs arrived. After a quick head count, they headed off to the north. John had the sneaking suspicion that something was going to happen, and soon. Sure enough, a loud explosion behind the SPARTANs signaled an attack. John dropped low, behind a boulder and took a brief look to see where his SPARTANs were. They each were hugging the cover, readying weapons. The Master Chief poked his head out from behind the boulder and clicked on his rifles 4x magnification and sent two three round bursts into the head of an unlucky Centurion. He pulled his head back as rounds began to impact his area. John could hear the sounds of fire from his fellow SPARTANs. He looked back around the boulder and saw a substantial enemy presence. John sighted again and sent lead into his targets head. John signaled for Kelly to find a better position. The female Spartan nodded and headed off to the right. John and the others gave her covering fire, taking out as many Cylons and Haydonites as they could before they decided to bring out their heavy weapons. John cursed as mortars began falling around them.

"Fred! Hit them with the laser! Everyone else, keep your heads down!"

Fred popped up and kept still as the laser charged. The red beam knifed through the air and slammed into the first mortar position. Fred dropped down and allowed the laser to cool as John contacted the SDF-3. He was surprised when Admiral Hayes-Hunter answered.

"Ma'am, this is Sierra one one seven. We're pinned down and request reinforcements."

"_Cyclones and dropships on the way, Chief."_

John closed the com and turned his attention back to the explosion near the enemy forces. John cursed as he saw Fred take a concussion blast to the chest. Before he moved even two steps to his friends, a familiar sound reached him. John looked up and let out a relieved breath. The Horizon dropships began their approach, weapons blazing as AA towers and mechanicals alike were blown away. As he watched, Cyclones began dropping out of them from the side hatches. John wanted to smile as he watched them tear across the terrain, adding their fire to the SPARTANs own. The commander of them came right over to the Chief and crouched behind the same boulder and gave the Chief a grin.

"How the hell did you get yourself into the position, Chief?" He asked.

John snorted. He'd started to become more and more civilian since he'd awakened. He blamed Cortana for that.

"It wasn't easy. I really had to work at it."

The Marine shook his head in amusement before he sent a rocket into the Haydonites midst. The resulting explosion sent chunks of enemy fatalities, leaving the Marine to smirk in amusement.

"Alright. We've got air support and you've got reinforcements. What's say we get the party started?"

John nodded before he clicked his com and signaled for his team to move forward. John gripped his BR and leapt over the boulder, charging forward, squeezing the trigger, sending round after round at his enemy, dropping them with military precision. He concentrated on what he needed to do and not what the Marines were doing. John switched to his SMGs and sent a steady stream of lead into the targets, his shields flashing as they took impacts. After several minutes of pure chaos as they fought through the enemy blockade and head to the objective. The building came into view, and John was surprised to see a lack of enemies present. He figured all the guards must have moved to the ambush site. But that didn't mean they weren't inside the building. John had the Marines hold their new exfil point as he and his team went into the building. John stayed on point as they moved through the facility. He was rather surprised to see a red beam flash through the hall ahead. But the voice he heard caused him to momentarily freeze.

"Damn, sir. You got decent aim with that."

"Yep. Comes with practice, Sergeant Major. Now, I think we need to find an exit."

"Right around here sir."

John and the others raised their weapons as the two beings came around the corner and everyone froze. Naruto recovered first.

"Nice timing, Chief."

John hadn't moved and trained his weapons on the man behind Naruto. The man chuckled.

"Same old Chief. Don't worry, I'm the real deal. Now, I think we need to get out of here."

John shook his head.

"Negative. We're here to kill the leader of these people."

Naruto grinned.

"No need. We already took care of him. Bastard needed to learn that I don't like torture."

John lowered his weapons.

"You sure. Last time we thought he was dead, he just came here."

Johnson held up the casing of Spark.

"Pretty sure he is dead. Now, how about we get out of here."

Naruto nodded his head and gripped the laser with firm determination.

"Lead the way, Master Chief."

John turned and gestured for them to head out the way they came. John was happy to see that the enemy seemed to be more interested on trying to destroy the fleet than the few dozen of them on the ground. John gave the order to fall back to the SDF-3 and everyone was only too happy to comply with the order. John waited until he was the last to board. He swept the area once more before climbing on board. The dropships rose off the deck and hurtled into the sky. The SPARTAN opened his com.

"Spartan One One Seven to SDF-3. Target eliminated. Returning to base."

Admiral Hayes-Hunter responded crisply.

"_Understood. What's your team status?"_

"All onboard and accounted for. we're even heavy one pilot and one Marine."

"_Two unknowns, identify yourself."_

Johnson nodded to the Chief.

"Ma'am. Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson. UNSC Marine Corps."

"_I'll have Cortana check your name and see if she knows who you are. Unknown number two, identify."_

Naruto grinned.

"Lieutenant Commander Uzumaki. Sorry I'm late ma'am. I got lost on the road to life."


	25. Chapter 25: End Game

Chapter 24

End Game

Rick rolled his fighter to avoid the debris from his latest kill when his com activated.

"_Control to all fighters, return to fold perimeter. Repeat, return to fold perimeter."_

Rick sent his acknowledgement and lead his flight back to the SDF-3. He glanced over at the planetoid, for that is what it truly was, and watched the Horizon Dropships return to the hangers and breathed a sigh of relief. They'd succeeded and he was very pleased to see that.

-x-x-x-x-x-

The Shipmaster smirked as he watched the Forerunner dreadnaught turn to nothing but a molten ball of metal. Around him, his command crew roared in triumph. He gave a small chuckle and joined in as they watched the hulk drift back toward the hunk of rock it came from. He glanced down at his beeping console and read the burst transmission from the Human ship.

"Set course for the rendezvous point. Spin up the drive system."

They coursed in unison and set about their tasks.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"All vipers are accounted for." Tigh reported to the Admiral.

Adama nodded and looked over to the FTL controller.

"Prepare to jump the ship. Set coordinates for the rally point."

The officer nodded and tapped in the information before preparing the Battlestar for jump.

"FTL is ready sir."

"Thirty seconds to jump from my mark. Mark." Adama ordered.

A timer appeared on the CIC display and began ticking the seconds away.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ensign, how long till fold operation?" Lisa asked the helmsman.

The young woman looked down at her console.

"Fifteen seconds, Admiral."

"Ma'am! I'm reading massive energy readings emminating from the core of the planet. Looks like it's going to blow."

Lisa looked over to the sensor officer so fast she felt her neck pop.

"How long until detonation?"

"Twenty seconds."

Lisa opened her shipwide com.

"All hands, this is the Admiral. Stand by for fold and after shock."

She looked back at the veiwscreen and gritted her teeth.

"Five seconds to fold. 4...3...2...1...Beginning fold operation."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto blinked as a bright white light almost blinded him. The blonde pilot looked around in confusion. He appeared to be standing on the side of a desert highway. He looked to his right and saw it stretching out farther than he could see. He looked back over at the diner slash gas station and saw seven men looking at him. Naruto looked back and saw that three others had joined him. Admiral Hunter, a man with graying black hair and in a uniform he had never seen, and the Chief with his helmet missing. The four men looked at one another before shrugging and walking across the highway to the seven men. All but one had a smile on their faces. The leader, one who had a large mustache and dressed in clothing similar to the Union uniform from the Uniited States Civil War stepped forward.

"You've finally arrived."

Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Where are we?"

The man's grin widened.

"That's the question, isn't it? You are with the Q. The seven of us before you are incharge of a different reality. I am in charge of Admiral Adama's reality for example. Q here," He pointed to the man to his immidate right. "Is in charge of Admiral Hunters reality. And the frowning man is Q. He is in charge of a reality that none of you have ever seen."

Rick cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Wait. Your all named Q?"

"Yes." They answered.

Rick rubbed his temples.

"Confusion is nothing new." He muttered.

The Q with the mustache cleared his throat.

"Well, I know your all wondering why you're here . The answer is simple. You have all passed our test. And we are giving you a choice. You can stay in the unified reality as you are, or, we can return you to your own reality as you were before you each met up. That means no memory of any of the events that have happened."

"And what is our other option?" John asked.

"You take up the mantle as the Guardians. You see, in times of great danger to the balance of the multiverse, the Q Continuum choose four beings to head off this danger. You four each represent each of the four traits we need to combat this threat. Naruto. You hold the trait of Compassion. No matter how much your were treated like trash, you always rose to the defense of those who had wronged you when they needed it."

Naruto turned a little red and muttered a thanks.

"John. You represent Courage. You took risks that no man would, and you did it to keep those you care for safe and sound. Even when it was you in a pelican vs. several Covenant warships, you still fought so that you could protect your people."

The Spartan nodded but a thought that most people would considered it stupidly, but decided not to voice it.

"Rick. You represent Leadership. You fought in three space wars and still kept your troops and your people on the right track. You've been there to help rebuild your civilization twice and lead them in a war against those who would see you dead. You inspire loyalty and respect in those who serve under you."

Rick nodded his understanding but had a hunch Lisa would probably counter that staement.

"Bill, you represent Commitment. You have lead your people halfway across the galaxy to a place of only legends and have done much to keep your people alive and to get them to Earth."

The Q's looked over the four who took in what they had just heard. The Q-stache continued on.

"If you accept, you four will lead your forces as the Guardian Force. You will defend against anything that threatens to destroy the balance between realities. If you accept, your and your forces shall become a part of the Q, but still remain yourselves. All of our knowledge will be available to you. Do you accept?"

The four men looked at one another and nodded. They knew that the alternative wasn't worth it. They looked back at the Q-stache.

"We'll do it."

The Q-stache grinned.

"Good. Your free for now, but rest assured, we will be calling." Q-stache snapped his fingers and the four vanished.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Nine months later…

Naruto rubbed his sore hand as Claudia nursed their newest addtion to the family. The tiny baby had her hair and Naruto's eyes and his appetite by the looks of it. The blonde man smiled at the sight.

"We have to name her." He told her.

"How about…Lisa? Lisa Marie Uzumaki?" She asked.

Naruto grinned.

"Perfect."

-x-x-x-x-x-

John was scared. Yes, scared. The Spartan was currently in the hospital as his wife spit curses out at him as the contractions rocked through her.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

John had faced down whole armies before, but this was way worse than that.

"You're almost done." He reminded her.

Her glare silenced any further remarks from him. With a loud scream and a final push, a cry was heard in the room. Cortana collapsed back onto the hospital bed, breating heavily as the doctor smiled at John.

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" He asked.

John took one look at what it was and shook his head. He may have seen blood and guts on the battlefield, but what he saw made him feel just a tad light headed. The doctor shrugged and cut the cord before the took the baby to clean it. He stayed just long enough to write down the name.

"Miranda Elizabeth Spartan." The doctor raised an eyebrow at the surname but pushed it aside. If he remembered what he had been told, John had no true surname so they just used Spartan. Everyone thought it was fitting.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"HUNTER! I'M GOING TO RIP OFF YOU LITTLE FRIEND SO HE CAN'T DO THIS TO ME ANYMORE!"

Rick, who had already been through this once shook his head in amusement.

"He's almost here."

"THEN YOU CAN CARRY THE NEXT ONE!" She snarled at him.

He knew how strong his wife's grip could be from the last time and kept his hands in his lap as he tried his best to comfort her. It failed. She reached over and grabbed his hand and crushed it as hard as she could, making him scream in pain just like her. After twenty hours of labor, little Roy Hunter greeted the world with a cry to the bright white lights in the room.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Things had calmed down in the Guardian Force fleet. They hadn't been contacted by the mysterious Q yet, but they knew it was only a matter of time. For now, they just went about their lives, saoring the peace that had descended upon the galaxy.

* * *

This is the last chapter of this story. I left it so that there is a jump off point for a sequel. I honestly don't know if I will write one or not, mainly because I've lost my motivation for this particular crossover story. If you want to do a sequel, then by all means, go ahead, just send me a link to it. Hell, if you want to redo this story and repost it if you think you can make it better, just ask. Anyway, I'm now shifting my focus back to my HP story. Thanks for reading guys. It's been a nice run.


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